Equivalent Exchange
by SineadJones
Summary: At the age of 12 Avery was found with no memories as to who she was and now she works in an underground service for the Government. Her future seems bleak and her past has been erased. Until one day she overhears 2 boys talking about the Philosophers Stone and something ignites, but that means she will have to work with those Alchemist scum to piece together the truths of the Stone
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, when Avery was half naked, lying underneath a freshly dead body in the back of some dingy bar (or if she was short for time the back of an alley), she found herself wondering what the fuck was she even doing with her life. She was almost positive that whomever it was to birth her did not have this in plan for her. God, she at least hoped not anyway.

She laid there for a few moments, enjoying the silence. It wasn't often that she got time to herself to think. She stayed still, straining her ears for any type of sound, any breathing, any drum of a heart beat. _Nothing._ She smiled, it always made things simpler when she got the job done right the first time, she liked to keep things clean as possible. She shuddered at the memory of #4. She totally underestimated the amount of poison he would need in his drink by a long shot, it was stupid of her. She didn't even take into consideration his body mass, but anyway after a few chesty coughs he passed out and Avery thought that was it but just as she prepared to dispose of the body, he woke up, coughing his shit up- but still awake. She had to take things into her own hands. She didn't really like thinking about what she did, but there was more blood then she intended and Madame was so not happy about the mess

Avery shuffled herself away from underneath the body and then continued to throw her shirt on over her camisole, she hated that part the most. The thought of those men touching her made her skin crawl, she learned pretty quickly to wrap up in as many layers as possible because boy were they fast to reach for her clothes. She looked back at the now lifeless heavy weight and frowned.

'Asshole.' She commented before stepping over him and reaching for the phone. 'Hello?' She called.

'Oh, hey Avery!' Lucinda replied, her voice as chirpy as ever.

'Yeah, hey Lucinda. Can you let Madame know that it's done? Also tell Oliver to hurry the fuck up this time, he knows that i'm just stuck here until he shows up.' She griped, 'Besides, being stuck in a room with a dead body is unsettling by yourself.'

Avery could hear a snort at the other end of the line, 'That's ironic.'

'Just tell Oliver to fucking hurry up.' She snapped before hanging up.

Avery checked the doors again, more so to kill time rather than to actually make sure that they were locked. She slumped against the wall and rested her eyes on the body, still frowning. He was one of her youngest targets but surprisingly one of the creepiest. Although if Madame hadn't have given Avery his file she would've been easily fooled if you based his character off his looks but all you had to do was have a conversation with him to realize he was a total scumbag. She was surprised by how hard it was to get him here, usually it only took the bat of her eyelashes, a couple of drinks and a few suggestive remarks for them to follow her to any deserted area and start ripping at her clothes but him? No, #11 was stubborn. He didn't flirt back, he didn't smirk at her suggestive remarks, he just continued to stare at her blankly and take sips of his drink (which contained half a vile of poison, courtesy of Avery). Yet he still followed Avery to the back of this pub nonetheless, hoping to get his leg over. She shuddered at the thought, as if. All these creeps aim way too high.

'Avey baby-' A voice cooed from the other side of the door causing her face to drop almost immediately, she then went to open the door and pushed her hand through the entrance, causing the palm of her hand to smack Oliver right in the center of his face.

'Fuck!' He cursed clutching his face, 'I think you broke my nose again! You Bitch!'

'Well stop calling me stupid names and I wouldn't have to constantly break your face!' She retorted back. She watched Oliver glare at her for a moment before he rolled his eyes and focused his attention back to the situation at hand but he didn't do so before sighing at her first. She chose to be the mature person out of the both of them and ignore it.

'Right, same as always. Keep an eye out whilst I do what I usually do with the body.' He said, Avery nodded and left the room leaving Oliver to do what he usually does with the body, whatever the fuck it was.

* * *

Avery led across Oliver's bed, she was tired and her body ached. Just like how she usually felt every time she off'd someone. She glanced over at Oliver who was currently hunched over his desk, she could only really see the back of his head. His messy black hair sticking in every direction, she could also see that he had his glasses on which meant that he must be reading.

'I don't know why you bother with that.' She remarked as she fiddled with the a piece of string in her outstretched hands. Oliver took his glasses of and turned around to face her.

'Do you not think an education is important?' He queried.

'I just don't really see the point, like where can we go from here.'

'Speak for yourself.'

'Maybe I am speaking for myself.' She mumbled grumpily.

'You think too negatively, there's a lot more for Amestris to offer. A lot more for the world to offer.' Oliver commended, narrowing his eyes at her.

'That's easy for you to say, you weren't found at the age of 12 with no recollection as to who you are or where you came from.' She replied as she sat up glowering.

'God,' Oliver rolled his eyes, 'You're such a self- pity act. That tune is getting really old you know.' Avery's response was to mimic his words in a stupid voice with a sulky look plastered across her face.

'-That tune is getting really old you kno- hey! Ow!' She cried painfully as Oliver yanked at a strand of her matted curls.

'You're so immature, you know that right?' He sneered as he pulled her face to his.

Avery clicked her tongue and glowered at him, 'You're only 17. You do realize that right?'

'Yeah and that one year age gap really shows.' Avery really wanted to punch that shit eating grin right off his face but she had to restrain herself knowing what would wind him up more. She smirked slightly as she breathed in.

She spat on him.

She watched in great amusement as he jolted back dramatically with a horrified look on his face. 'Ew! Gross! What the fuck Avery?!' She started howling in laughter, a few snorts escaping her lips in the process. He scrubbed the back of his sleeve against his face dramatically. 'You're so gross.'

'You know Oliver I really don't get you, you fight the worst of the worst and dispose bodies for a living but you can't handle a bit of saliva.' She noticed him clench his jaw and a slight growl leaving his lips. Now for the cherry on top, 'God, I really do feel sorry for whoever you end up with. They aren't going to have a very fun time.' She mocked. This was cue for his face to go bright red from a mix of embarrassment and anger.

'Get out!' He yelled as he chucked a book at her, it was evident that he was aiming for her head but she managed to catch it just in time. She got up to leave, she could take a hint. Especially when it was being hurled at her at great velocity and speed. She made sure to laugh with every step she took until the door was being slammed behind her.

 _That kid really had to get his temper looked at._ She glanced back at his door and grinned before she continued walking. She clutched at the book, still in her hands. She really did struggle to see the point in what he was doing, she still stands by what she said. Why bother? That boy dreamed way too big. This wasn't the type of job that you could just drop out of whenever you felt like it, if he didn't realise that now then it was only going to hurt him more in the long run. What they signed up for when they agreed to this, was like them signing their souls to the devil.

Madame Christmas had her girls. They were her eyes on the streets, they were her spies. They were the military's spies. They saw all and knew all, hidden in plain sight. They knew anything and everything and would report it back to Madame and Madame would report anything that had any relevance back to central. And because of them, damaged could be stopped before it even happened. They were the prevention.

Then there were them, people like Avery and Oliver. People like Lucinda. Plucked and found from the worst conditions, desperate enough to agree to just about anything just for a chance at survival. Their job wasn't quite as clean as the girls. Their job was to clear the streets of worst, whenever military couldn't or wouldn't that's when they came in. By worst she meant worst of the worst; murderers, serial rapists, homicidal maniacs etc. All the ones that thought they were slick enough to slip under the radar, they were wrong. Originally Avery didn't kill them. She resisted, refused. She would just fight them, help lure them into capture but somewhere along the lines the plans were changed and there was nothing Avery could do, it stopped being about what was right and started just being about surviving.

It wasn't always like this, or so she heard, to begin with it really was just Madame and her girls working independently for their own gain but then Military got quick wind of this and started using it to their advantage, it became a legitimate service that was being funded by military, a service that would be helping both ends out but then military started to take things into their own hands forming their own plans for them. They offered extra funding for extra service. Thus came The A.O.S, the Amestris Outlaw Services. The name made Avery sound a lot more official then she actually was. It was fucked, yes, Avery was very aware of that but so were so many other things in the world.

Avery didn't know as much as she would like, her knowledge still lacked in a lot of areas, trying to start an entire new life from the age of 12 when you know literally nothing else does that, but she soon became quickly aware of how bitter this world was. She knew not to trust anything or anyone, the military and the government being the first things on that list. 4 years later and she still stuck by that.

She wasn't proud of what she did but she wasn't exactly ashamed either, it might be because that was pretty much all she knew, or because the people she was killing were people that didn't deserve to live, or maybe it was just in her personality- she'll never know. It was just something she felt oddly nothing about. She was sure she wasn't the only one though. She's worked with Oliver for years and he's yet to say outright anything about what he does and then there was Lucinda- she was a whole other ballpark. To her this was all a game to her, i've seen the light in her eyes when she's assigned a new target specifically for her. She's like a kid at Christmas, it was oddly cute.

'Avery!' She heard her name being called out, she groaned trying to ignore it. She recognized it instantly, Suzo. Madame's runner girl. Avery only got back like an hour ago, she was fucking exhausted, she definitely was not going to complete another job today.

'Avery!' Suzo yelled again but this time she also yanked at Avery's shoulder to go with it. Avery ripped away from her grip.

'Who said you could touch me? Oh wait no one, so piss off.' She spat.

'Madame wants to see you.'

Avery grumbled and shoved past Suzo, 'She always wants to see me.'

'If you don't come i'll just tell her you ignored me, you always seem to forget she's the one that clothes and feeds you.' Suzo sung annoyingly. Avery paused in her tracks, counting to ten first to refrain herself from beating the shit out of Suzo before she turned around.

'Where is she?'

'Her office.' Avery nodded and took a step in the opposite direction of where she was heading previously, being sure to shove into Suzo again in the process.

'You wanted to see me?' Avery asked as she knocked on the already opened door when she arrived at the office.

Madame turned around, 'Your presence has been requested at central.'

Avery audibly groaned as she took a seat on her desk, her hand reaching for the sweet bowl on her desk and popped it into her mouth. 'For what reason this time?'

'Apparently it's time for you to have another assessment and psych analysis, it will most likely be like the one you had when you were first found. Before you were handed down to me.' Avery scratched her head and furrowed her eyebrows.

'I'm not going to lie, I don't really remember much of that. Most things from those times are kind of blurry.'

'You will be given a run through on to what to expect on the way there, don't worry. They should be here soon.' Avery nodded but still, Madame narrowed her eyes at Avery. 'Avery?'

'Yes?'

'Get off my desk!' She declared whacking her on the back of the head.

'Ow!' Avery cried in response, 'Was the violence really necessary?' She grumbled as she hopped off, picking her words carefully. She was pretty sure she still had a bruise from the last time she talked back to Madame.

'When it concerns you, yes.'

Avery was about to respond when she heard a knock on the door, she turned around to see Roy Mustang stood by the doorway, 'Oh, it's you.' She sighed disappointedly.

'And what's that supposed to mean?' Roy exclaimed aggressively.

'I was hoping it was going to be someone fun, like Hughes, but you'll have to do I suppose.' She said, crossing her arms. Immediately after the words left her lips she could feel Madame's eye bore into the back of her head. 'I mean, yay! Roy Mustang!' She declared sarcastically as she walked toward him. Making sure she was well out of Madame's reach. 'My favorite person!'

Roy shook his head, 'Do you really think it's sensible to patronize the person driving you to central?'

'Do you really think it's sensible to threaten me with a witness present?' She shot back referring to Madame.

Roy just growled and grabbed her collar, 'C'mon.' He said dragging her with him.

* * *

'Please refrain from doing anything stupid whilst you're here.' Roy commanded as they entered the building, walking through it.

'You say that every time I come here and I find it just as offensive each time.' Avery retorted as she walked beside him, nodding at whatever familiar faces she saw.

'That's because every time you do something stupid.' He barked.

'I do not!' She shot back, trying to sound outraged at his allegations. Just because she had managed to get herself in a few problematic circumstances a few times doesn't mean that it was because she did anything stupid. Roy stopped to turn around and face Avery causing her to stop.

He stared at her deadpanned, she stared back pretending not to know what he was on about.

'You set fire to my office!' He exclaimed.

'I did not set fire to it! That's such an exaggeration, it caught a small flame and I put it out before it got out of hand remember!' She fired at him.

'We seem to be remembering to completely different version of events.' He declared, glaring at her. Avery just waved him off and continued walking.

'This conversation is boring, can we just get this over and done with please.'

'Next time i'm sending Hawkeye to collect you.' He bit under his breath.

When they arrived at the reception Roy had told Avery to wait by the chairs after signing her in because he had to go do something, to begin with she did genuinely do what he told her, for once. She sat and waited. And waited, and waited, and _waited._ After about 20 minutes of her just sat there, in the same chair, she started to become really irritable. And when she got irritable; she got fidgety. Whoever she was meant to be having this assessment with was taking their sweet time. She could just go for a 5 minute walk and say she needed to pee or something.

Surely no one could tell her off for needing to pee?

She glanced up at the desk lady, she seemed too engrossed in whatever she was doing to pay attention to Avery. Then it was settled. She got up and took a left, just taking steps to wherever was available. She didn't like walking through this part though. It was filled with people, walking all directions. She started to take note of all the glances that were being target towards her direction, some were even as blunt to stare. She hated this, she forgot how many unwarranted looks she would receive whenever she was in unfamiliar territory, her long snow-white hair and dark red eyes resulted in her sticking out wherever she went- if it wasn't for her pale white skin she could have easily have been mistaken for an Isvhalan. It was that combined with her her overall scruffy appearance that resulted in these looks as if she didn't belong.

After about the 10th one she decided she couldn't take anymore, if she stayed there any longer she was going to do exactly what Roy ordered her not to do, something stupid. She took a turn for an empty corridor which incidentally lead her to an empty looking room, she might as well enter it. It couldn't get any worse then out there.

The first thing she saw were books, lots and lots of books. It looked like a library but if it was a library then why was it so secluded away from everything? The only logical reason she could think of was because they had books here that wasn't meant for the public domain. God, Oliver would have a field of a day in here. It's a shame he's never been asked to come here otherwise she could've told him where it was.

Avery was in the middle of reading the spines of some of the books, which was proving to be difficult in such dim lighting when she heard a voice. She fell to her knees and made an attempt to hide behind the book shelf, from the sounds of it the voice wasn't too far from her.

'There's got to be something about that could help us in here somewhere Al.' Avery peered through the books, she couldn't see much but from what she could make out the voice belonged to either blond haired kid or the one dressed in a massive metal suit. Avery decided not to question the boys choice of clothing, she's seen a lot weirder things, she'd only be wasting her own energy if she did.

'What do you think we will find brother?' The voice replied, this voice was definitely younger but both voices sounded just as distressed each others. Avery would be lying if she said her interest wasn't piqued slightly.

'Honestly Al, I'm not entirely sure. At this moment in time, anything we find on the philosophers stone would be helpful.' _The philosophers stone._ Avery wasn't quite sure what it was but something about that word seemed really familiar but she couldn't pin point why because she knew for a fact that she hadn't heard it before. She recognized it though, she could feel it in her core. Something about the word screamed at her at tugged at the inside of her stomach. She racked her brain, trying to think. The familiarity of it was overwhelming. If she was only slightly interested before then now either boys had her undivided attention.

She rested her hands on the shelf to get a better view and hearing point. 'This is the closest we've gotten to getting our bodies back so far.' Avery could hear better but she still couldn't see much.

She just needed to get a tiny bit closer, 'Brother, do you think-' Suddenly Avery felt her hand slip as she lost balance of the bookshelf keeping her steady. Which meant that the bookshelf... _Oh shit._

Next thing she knew she face planted the floor as the bookshelf followed suit, collapsing to the floor and bringing every book on it's shelf with it. The roomed filled with three collective screams as it smashes to the ground. 'WHAT THE-' Avery opened her eyes to see the blond haired boy staring down at her, looking confused and quite frankly pissed. At least she got a good look of his face though this time, rather than having to peer through some smelly old books.

'Who are you?!' He demanded pointing at her.

Avery raised to her feet immediately, 'Who are you?!' She shot back defensively, not liking the accusing tone in his voice.

He growled at her, 'I'm the one asking you questions here not you! You're the one that just collapsed half of the library!'

Avery scoffed, _who did he think he was?!_ 'Oh those are big words coming from someone as small as you don't you think?' She got pleasure out of watching his face go bright red and contort to a mixture of emotions, most of them anger. Actually scratch that, he was just pure anger. A laugh slipped through her lips.

This only seemed to wind him up even more, 'Who are you calling small?!' He roared, his voice echoing throughout the room when suddenly his face fell, he unexpectedly started to swivel his head around manically as if he'd lost something, 'Al?! Where are you?!' He yelled desperately. Oh shit, she forgot about the other one.

'Brother!' A voice cried back. Avery did not appreciate all the books being hurled in her direction as the blond haired boy started searching hurriedly for his brother.

'Hey! Watch it!' She shouted as she stomped over to him but stopped mid in her track when she saw him pick up a metal head and hug it and then continued to pull out the metal body and attach it on. She was about to question it when she realized that them currently being distracted would actually be a perfect time to sneak away. Quickly, she jolted for the door and ran as fast as she could (which luckily was actually pretty fast), not stopping for breath until she was certain she was a great amount of distance away from them.

It wasn't until she finally slowed down her footsteps that she actually stopped to recall all of the events from the past 5 minutes. She lowered her head as she smirked, being sure that her hair was covering her face.

She was pretty sure that she had just witnessed something she hadn't meant to.


	2. Chapter 2

The physical assessment was easy for her, they just wanted to test her strength and agility. Something she was skilled in, you had to be when you were killing people for a living. It was the psych assessment that caused Avery problems. To begin with it was okay, when they were studying her general appearance and speech but it's when they moved onto her emotional expressionism that she shut down, it made her feel uncomfortable and quite frankly awkward. Because she wasn't here for them to make sure her emotional well being was in tact, she was here because they wanted to check if she was still useful or not, even if they won't admit thats why. She found the easiest way to get through the questions was to answer with dumb ass replies. She found it fun to test their limits, she was genuinely curious to see what they would do if she pushed it too far. Just crossed that line once.

As well as being fun though it was also the only way for her to control her temper, being asked this many personal questions at once when she was this tired was not putting her in the best of moods. It was the last question that took a hold of her the most though, She decided not to think about it though. At least not for now. The moment that she left that room she pushed it aside and switched her thoughts onto something else.

She noted that Roy hadn't returned yet which gave her the opportunity to walk around, he would find her eventually. She always found it interesting how differently she lived her lives from everyone here even though they technically had the same job, just theirs looked classier then hers but if you take away the pretty exterior and cut to the crap they were all eating off of the same plate.

Avery walked through the corridor, minding her own damn business when she suddenly felt her entire body being tackled, 'Whaaa-' she cried as she winced in pain.

'Avery!' A familiar voice declared happily. _Oh god._ She couldn't see a thing as her entire upper was being enveloped against his chest.

'Hughes!' She muffled through his shirt, 'I can't breathe!' She flailed her arms about dramatically but it was doing nothing for her. Honestly she should've been mentally prepared for this, why would now be different then every other time she's been requested to central.

'Look at how long your hair has gotten! You've grown too!' He claimed pulling her back at arms legth before smushing his cheeks against hers and hugging her again. 'You've even got a healthy color to your cheeks to!' He cried, overjoyed. Now she knew full well that was bullshit, everyone loved to comment on how pale she was and how she looked like she was on the brink of death.

'Hughes! It hasn't even been that long since I last saw you.' She grumbled as she grew increasingly more embarrassed.

He just ignored her and continued to ramble, 'I heard you were coming in today! I was hoping I would run into you!'

'Hughes...' Avery moaned, as she attempted once again to wriggle away from him, this time thankfully she was successful although she nearly fell backwards in the process.

Hughes placed his hand on the top of her head, she gritted as she could feel him rub his hand back and fourth knowing she was going to have to attempt to brush the knots out of her hair later. 'I saw you like 5 months ago Hughes, it's no big deal.'

'Yeah but you never ring me or send me a letter to let me know how you're doing.' He pouted causing Avery to roll her eyes at him.

'Don't you have anything better to do rather than fawn over me? I thought you saved that for your family.'

He pushed up his glasses and smiled down at her, 'You know I make an exception for you but yeah, I was actually talking to some people before I saw you.' He glanced around as his eyes searched for them, causing Avery to look around too. 'I wonder where they could've gone-'

'You!' A voiced declared behind Avery, it was vaguely familiar and for some reason really grated on her. She turned her head to see who it was.

'Oh, it's you.' She sighed as she cocked her eyes at the blond haired boy, of course it would be her luck to run into him again. She then altered her attention so it was focusing on the metal boy, smirking, 'And you.'

Hughes glanced between them, back and fourth. 'You know eachother?' This time it was Avery's turn to ignore him however as she leaned forwards and tapped her knuckles across Al's chest and then tucked her hair behind her ear after, pretending to listen out for any sound.

'Sounding pretty hollow in there aren't ya big guy.' She grinned, she could feel the other one scowling at her. She didn't pass a blind bit of attention, what could that pip squeak even do to her anyway. 'What are you anyway, cos you're definitely not a robot, you're too hollow for that.'

The blond boy stepped in front of Al, being the block between him and Avery, his eyes were lit like a fire, 'Leave him alone.' She stared at him for a few seconds trying to decipher what her next move should be but she just knew if she kept tackling this subject it was only going to cause pointless problems and she really didn't need any more in her life.

Hughes sighed, 'I see you've already made a great impression on the Elric brothers.'

Avery turned to face him, 'Hm?' She questioned.

'Avery, meet Alphonse and Edward Elric. Ed, Al, this is Avery.' Hughes introduced as the two of them continued to glare at eachother. 'Edward is the youngest state alchemist as of yet.' Now this did catch Avery's attention.

'Wait, really?' She asked, 'How old are you?'

'I'm 15.' Avery laughed.

'What's so damn funny?! Huh?!' He yelled at her, catching peoples attention as they walked past the pair of them.

'Oh, I thought you were younger. I mean, I guess if you look past the small height your facial features do resemble someone of your age.'

'Who are you calling small?!' He shouted at her, clenching his fist.

'Brother.' Al warned Ed, it was clear as day, suit or no suit that Al was growing increasingly more embarrassed as people started to stare at all of them. Avery's grin just widened from ear to ear, she was pretty sure she was on to something here. She had to test out her theory one more time just to make sure.

'Your height is nothing to be ashamed of, you can't help it if you're small.' She remarked once more, Ed lunged for her but Hughes was too quick as he sweeper both arms underneath hers and lifted her her up, having her hang from her armpits. This only caused Avery to burst out in laughter however as she kicked her legs in the air.

'You can't even reach me up here!' She guffawed.

Al reached for Ed before he hurt someone, more particularly, Avery. 'Brother, you can't hurt her!' He shamed as he clung onto a squirming Ed.

Avery scoffed, 'I'd like to see you try.'

Ed smirked at her, 'Is that an invitation?'

Avery smirked back, 'Bring it on.' She dreaded to think about how ridiculous they looked in this moment in time as they threatened to cause bodily harm to eachother whilst both being restrained by significantly bigger people.

'Avery! What was the one thing I told you not to do?!' She turned to her left to see a pissed off looking Mustang glaring at her, completely ignoring everyone else present. She frowned.

'Hey! Don't look at me! It was him who started it!' She said accusingly as she waved her foot in the direction of Ed.

'I what?! Are you serious right now?! Do I have to remind-'

'God do you ever stop going on? You sound like a child having a tantrum.' She patronised, looking unimpressed. This kid was easy to figure, she was pressing all the right buttons on first try.

Ed's eyes centralised on her, going very dark, 'You're lucky I don't punch you right now.' Avery contemplated retorting with something argumentative but she could see that they were only going round in circles here and she was really losing feeling in her arms, so instead she settled for a sneer making sure that he knew he hadn't won.

Roy brought his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose as he tried to remain somewhat calm in such a public area, 'I should've predicted that she would find her way to these two.' He muttered to himself. 'Hughes drop her.' He commanded, Hughes smiled in response and let go.

'How do you two know eachother?' Hughes asked, Roy continued to glare down at them. Avery decided that it would just be best to stay silent but apparently Ed had other plans.

'We caught her spying on us in the library.'

Avery whipped her head around to face Ed, 'I was not!'

'Then why were you on the other side of that bookcase when it collapsed on me and Al?!'

'Avery, you did what?' Roy was close to losing it with her, it took a complete idiot not to see that. She glowered at Ed.

'You fucking snitch.' She accused but Ed seemed not to care about the name, he was too busy smiling smugly at her as he folded his arms.

'What was the one thing I told you not to do whilst you were here?' She couldn't even be bothered to argue back, it was useless. Roy wasn't going to listen to her over a state alchemist- even if he did look 14 years old. It wasn't like she searched for trouble (well not always anyway), stupid shit just always seemed to occur whenever she was around. He then focused his attention back onto the boys, 'You weren't talking about anything important were you?'

There reaction didn't exactly fill him with confidence as they both looked to the ground and shuffled their feet aimlessly, he grabbed Avery by the collar. 'My office, now.'

* * *

It had been a while since she had been in here but everything was exactly the same as it usually was, except Riza wasn't here. She's almost always here.

'What did you hear Avery?' He demanded as he stared at her.

'I don't know what you're on about.' She uttered deciding that playing dumb would probably be the best way to go about this, she wanted to know more about this Philosophers Stone and she figured if they knew that she knew it would just make it all the more harder for her to find out anymore information. They would keep the information on a tighter leash which is not what she wanted.

'Don't play dumb with me.'

'I'm not!' She claimed, making it seem like her defences were up, 'I tried to listen but I couldn't hear anything so when I leaned in to get a better look I slipped and collapsed the book case on them.' She grumbled as she looked down, she knew the only way to steer him away from her lie was to cover it up with her a truth. Even if that did risk her getting into trouble.

He narrowed his eyes at her for a few moments, trying to decide if whether or not she was telling the truth but after a long sigh he decided to let it slide, 'Why do you always cause trouble when you're here?'

She snorted in response, 'You make it sounds like I exclusively cause problems here.'

'No, no, I know full well that's not the case.' He sneered, 'Problems follow you wherever you go.'

'So it would seem.'

Roy sighed and leaned back in his chair, he looked exhausted and to be honest so

was she.

'Can you take me back now? I'm wiped and all those questions that psych analysis fired at me has given me a headache.' She complained, Roy got up from his seat.

'Come on then.'

* * *

Regardless of how tired Avery was she barely got any sleep at all that night, she couldn't take her mind off that last question they asked her. 'Do you remember anything from before you were found?' She didn't know how to answer it and that's what unsettled her. If anyone had asked her any other day it would've been a deadpanned no. She had spent the past 4 years driving herself crazy by racking her brain for even the slightest bit of detail from her life before but each time she tried it was always the same result; nothing.

However when she was at central, when they asked her she hesitated. Something inside of her shook slightly, preventing her from talking, she couldn't quite let the words no slip from her mouth. I mean she couldn't say yeh either, god, if only. But she couldn't say no.

And she knew exactly why.

It was like something came up from behind her, wrapped its hand around her throat and whispered three words in her ear, 'The Philosophers Stone.' Something inside of her recognised it, somewhere far, closed away and locked away in her mind actually remembered something and as juvenile it may seem she couldn't ignore it. However she resented the fact that she would need the military resources to find out. That library she nearly collapsed, those two boys were in there looking for the same thing so it must contain something. This meant that she had to go back to central but she couldn't just yet and she knew that and that aggravated her, she couldn't go there without a reason so until she figured something out she just had to use the resources she had at hand.

'I hate it when it's a group mission,' Avery grumbled as she brought her knees up to her chin, 'It's always so messy.' She sat on the roof of some building as she watched the sun sink into the city.

Oliver just grunted an agreement as he sat beside her, his eyes too busy concentrating on the targets, to be honest Avery should be doing the same thing too.

'Bo-oring.' Lucinda's voice sung, 'You guys are no fun.' She pouted. Avery looked over at Lucinda to see her fiddling with the wired stitches in her cheeks again. She rolled her eyes. The amount of times she's told her not to play with them and she still ignores Avery. Damn child.

'It only ever becomes a mess with her around.' Oliver muttered distastefully. Lucinda giggled and Avery sighed. He was right, he continued, 'There's a few of them so we have to be quick about this there's no time for you to get your sad kick, okay Lucinda?'

She frowned in return, clearly not liking his choice of words. 'And no time for your petty poison either Avery.'

Avery whipped her head around to Oliver, 'I use it at my convenience, don't start shaming my methods when I could say plenty about yours!' She snapped.

'No need to get defensive.' He sneered, she was just about to reply when something caught the corner of her eyes. She looked back down at the floor.

'They're here.' She reported, she stood and pulled the hood of her cloak up. The other two mimicked her movement.

Lucinda's grin widened and a light laugh left her lips. 'Race ya!' She declared quickly before jumping off of the building and swooping down.

Lucinda followed behind her, jumping down onto the floor, her feet landing with a hard crash. Her legs used to shoot with pain when she first did that but after the 5th or 6th time she just became numb to the pain. They stood in a narrow alley way, standing behind 4 men. _Fucking bastards._ She glowered at them.

She riled up all her anger, all her hatred, all her frustration, repeating the things that they have done in her head. She had to, that what it took for her to do this, she had to change into someone else. Something else. Some dark part inside of her that she couldn't contain, she didn't like that part of her. When it takes over, _it takes over._

She feels disconnected to the world, it doesn't feel like it's her in that moment of time.

She recalled the photos in her head from their file, those photos, those girls. It made her feel sick to her core- murderers, rapists, tortures; none of those things are unheard of but until you see them upfront you're living in oblivion. Seeing how dark this world can really be, it disturbs a person and moulds them.

She heard one of them laugh and then she was gone.

Avery ran over to the first guy and jumped, wrapping her legs around his head and reaching for her weapon. She pulled out a long, narrow blade, so thin that you would have to squint to see it in the light. And before he had a chance to even comprehend onto what was going on she pierced it through the center of his head. Searing right through his brain. Blood splattered everywhere and she leaped away as his body slumped to the floor.

'You guys didn't play fair.' Lucinda accused as she ran towards the large guy, pulling out her sword in the process. 'Where's the fun in that?!' Lucinda screamed just as her sword seared through his neck. Blood spewed from his lips before he too collapsed to the ground.

At least the third guy was up for a fight, he held his gun up to Lucinda and Avery. The fourth guy cowered behind slightly, he looked pathetic. That's the thing about some men, they think they're all fucking tough when they've got a vulnerable girl tied up in a basement half dead but when someone actually comes to stand up to them? They're pretty weak.

Avery snarled at them as he reached for the trigger but before he had a chance to press any further Oliver dropped on him. His foot slammed the guy's head into the floor, the cracking of his skull echoed throughout the alley. 3 down and 1 to go.

They all turned to face the fourth guy, 'Get away from me!' He screamed, 'I didn't do anything!'

'Are you sure Emilié would say the same?' Avery demanded as she took a step closer to him. His eyes widened, horrified- he didn't speak.

'One of my favorite things about a dead body is probably the smell, it's so sweet, sickening sweet- I love it!' Lucinda went on, her tangent was probably a lot more daunting to this guy than any of the weapons they held in their hand. _Wait, what number would this guy be again?_ Avery tried to mentally count in her head, maths have never been her strong suit. _15! #15._ 'No one ever lets me enjoy that bit anymore though,' Lucinda whined as her eyes darted over to Oliver as if she was blaming him. 'Blood is also cool to though,' If the grin on her face wasn't big before then it definitely was now, her smile stretched from ear to ear as she brought her face close up to #15. She stopped when her nose was at the tip of his nose and said one more thing, 'Wouldn't you agree?'

From what Avery couldn't see due to Lucinda's body being in the way, it was made up with in sound. She could hear Lucinda's sword tear through each one of his organs, splitting the spleen, slicing each artery, a little part of Avery resented herself for growing used to the sound. She didn't even flinch or bat an eyelid and that first squelch. As Lucinda pulled out her sword #15 dropped to the ground, blood filled the floor, soaking into the pavement. Avery took a step back not wanting to stain her only pair of boots anymore than they already were. She sighed and looked around at the other bodies, they were practically swimming in blood by this point.

'So fucking messy.' Avery complained under breath.

Lucinda crouched so she was level with the body, 'It's no fun when they don't put up a fight, I was expecting a bit more.'

'Yeah, we couldn've done that individually if one of us really wanted to.' Avery commented in response.

'It's better to be safe with these things, you never know what could happen.' He said as if it was one of the most obvious things in the world, Avery hated that superior attitude of his. It just made her want to antagonise him more.

She smirked, 'I mean speak for yourself, Lucinda could've completed this job in under a minute. I bet you just requested our help- it's fine you can admit it, it's totally normal to be scared.' She teased, she watched as Oliver turned his head towards her, frowning.

'Don't flatter yourself, if I was to request anyone what on earth makes you think that it would be you?'

Avery brought her fingers to her lip and tried to look as if she was thinking of an answer, 'Hm... I don't know? Maybe because I'm one of Madame's best fighters? Maybe because 9/10 you know that you would be fucked without me?' Oliver's eyes turned dark and he raised his fist to Avery ready to punch her but she was too quick for him and ducked just in time.

'Aw, did I strike a nerve?' She chortled.

'Just go away whilst I sort this mess out.' He ordered, Avery and Lucinda nodded in response and sauntered off throughout the back, not wanting to be caught in blood stained clothes.

On the way back Avery made a mental note to apologies, or at least be _nicer_ to Oliver later. She had to ask him about the philosopher's stone. She decided with herself already that for now she just had to use the resources she had at hand and Oliver was the most useful one she had right now. She needed him.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, sleep was the last thing on Avery's mind. She did try, multiple of times, she probably placed herself in every possible position on that bed but no matter how much she tossed and turned her mind wouldn't turn off. Her brain was burning and her body itched right to the core of her bones. She couldn't describe it entirely but things felt different now, it was probably this new found determination she had for something other than killing. The Philosophers Stone was giving her something to work towards, this was more than just surviving like her life was. And she prayed that it wouldn't lead to a dead end.

She crept out of bed and headed towards the front of the building where the bar was, it would be a few more hours until anyone came down to open up so she was set till then. She wasn't really allowed around this part of the building, well not just her, any members of the A.O.S. Public places were off limits for any of the A.O.S but especially for Avery, Oliver and Lucinda. The restriction wasn't really much of an issue for her if she was being honest, she tried to avoid the place as much as possible anyway. During opening hours at least. She didn't mind it so much now. At some ridiculously early time in the morning, when even the birds were still asleep and the city was still cast in a dark shadow. You very rarely saw people then, especially in here.

See, Avery isn't dumb. She may still be missing a vast expense of knowledge that will take most likely another 12 years to gain but regardless she wasn't an idiot. She knew the basics of the working world, the main functions of the human mind, and she also for sure damn well knew that this wasn't just any type of bar. Although it may not be tainted with the name, no matter how Madame tries to paint the picture this place was a brothel. She's done her work in enough of them to know what one looks like and this definitely was one indeed. Either way, it still contained the one thing she knew would help her sleep- she hopped over the bar counter and headed straight for the liquor cabinet.

She rested on her knees as she scanned through her options although there wasn't much point, she really wasn't a drinker so she didn't really understand the options on the table, she didn't even like the taste of it but it would help her sleep on restless nights like this.

* * *

 _Avery clawed at the sides of her bed as her body convulsed vigorously in her sleep, fingernails snapping against the wood works. She was oblivious as to what was going on around her, all she was aware of was the thudding of her heart against her rib cage and the panic that swelled up in her throat. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't do anything, she wasn't in control, not even of her own mind._

 _She was thankful to feel hands shaking her body mercilessly, waking her up from whatever unconsciousness she was in. When she opened her eyes however she was less thankful. She furrowed her eyebrows and grimaced as she tried to pretend that Oliver wasn't looming over her, fuming and practically foaming at the mouth. He looked like he was ready to hurt her. 'What do you want?' She muttered. He didn't say anything, his only form of a response was grabbing her by the wrist and violently pulling her along with him. 'What are you doing?! Get off of me!'_

 _'I'm so sick of you! I can't ever sleep because you're always crashing around and screaming in the middle of the night!' He bit as he continued to walk, still dragging her along_.

 _'Let go Oliver!'_

 _'Shut up!' He screamed causing her lips to purse shut as her stomach dropped, this was the first time she'd seen Oliver get like this. Yes he made it perfectly clear before that he did not like her, nor will he ever like her, and he also was very verbal about how he was going to make her life hell since he was partnered up with her against his will but this... This was a new level to Oliver that she hadn't seen and it made her uncomfortable. She may not have been here that long but she's seen what these people can be capable of and she didn't want to witness what Oliver could be capable of._

 _She remained quiet as he continued to drag her across with him, only attempting to struggle away occasionally. She noted how the longer he walked the less his feet thudded against the floorboard and the more they started to sound like actual footsteps. This relieved a few of the tight knots that were tangled inside her stomach._

 _Finally Oliver let go of his grip and let her arm drop to her side, she followed him in as he opened the door. It only took her a second to realise where he had taken her, 'Wait, why did you take me to the bar?' She asked bewildered._

 _'To test something out.' He muttered as he hopped over the bar and rummaged through the counters._

 _'Test what out?' She sat at the stool and leaned over the bar slightly, trying to get him within her eyesight._

 _'I can't take your night terrors, or psychotic episodes or whatever it is your body is doing at night, your room is right next to mine. I can hear everything, all the thudding, screaming, crying-'_

 _'Hey! I haven't been crying!' She exclaimed but he just ignored her._

 _'All the sound follows through into my room and do you know how unnerving it is? You're crazy.'_

 _'I fail to see what this has to do as to why we are here.' She argued as she crossed her arms defiantly._

 _Suddenly Oliver's head emerged from underneath the bar followed by a bottle painted with the words 'Whiskey' on it as well as a tiny glass to accompany it. He continued to pour the whiskey into the glass- Avery watched the brown liquid, it didn't look very appetising but she liked the sound of it splashing in the glass. 'Here you go.' He said pushing it towards her._

 _'What?' She tilted her head, eyeing up the glass mysteriously._

 _'It helps you sleep.' He claimed._

 _'I'm pretty sure people don't drink this to sleep.' She told him._

 _'You're 12 and suffer from memory loss, you're not pretty sure of anything.' He countered back, grinning because he knew he was right- Avery balled up her fists._

 _'You can't make me drink this.'_

 _Oliver slammed his fist down next to her causing her to jump slightly, she cursed herself for showing any weakness around him, 'This drink will be inside of you one way or another so I recommend you do it yourself.' He whispered, edging closer towards her._

 _Hesitantly she picked up the glass and glowered at him, god she really did hate Oliver, in one swift motion she tipped it back and necked it. She could feel the burning sensation coursing through her throat and it took every ounce within her not to throw it all back up but she did it, she consumed it. She glanced back up at Oliver to see him grinning at her and reaching for the bottle again. 'Impressive, didn't think you could take it. Okay one more and then that should be it.'_

 _She really didn't want to, her stomach really didn't want her to but she couldn't be bothered to argue so she just nodded her head slightly in agreement and waited as he poured her another shot. The second time she tipped it back wasn't nearly as disgusting and painful as the first time but all the same, it still wasn't pleasant or enjoyable._

 _Her face grimaced, 'I don't understand how people can leisurely drink that shit.'_

 _'I suppose for the same reason we do what we do-' he murmured. 'To get through the day, survival.'_

 _'Is that was the A.O.S is doing? Surviving?'_

 _'Do you not agree?'_

 _'I don't know, I've been here for a bit now, a lot of the people here seem to be doing just fine- some don't even need to be here, some have homes.'_

 _Oliver sighed, as if there was something she was completely missing. 'People survive in different ways Avery, this-' He said, gesturing his arms to all of his surroundings, 'This is all we know- people like you, and me. If I wasn't here I would probably be in a lot worse situation, and you- with your red eyes and white hair you wouldn't survive even a week out by yourself. Even with your pale skin, you stick out like a sore thumb- that makes you a target.'_

 _'What's your point?'_

' _And then you get everyone else, people who you and me see every day, who are a part of or control our lives they are doing this for more than just their work. They need this, they want this-' Avery's breath shortened, she didn't like this conversation, she wanted it to stop, 'If they weren't here Avery it would be them that we would be after.'_

 _'I don't want to hear this.' She abruptly cried putting her hands over her ears, 'Why are you telling me this?!' She pulled out her chair._

 _Oliver just rolled his eyes, as if he was disgusted with her, 'I don't know why I bother.' He snapped before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Avery could feel the vibrations in her chest as she stood there all alone. She could feel her eyes stinging and chest burning but she swallowed any signs of emerging tears down deep where no one else could see them. She went this long without crying, she owed it to herself to persevere._

 _She looked over at the bottle of Whiskey that was still on the bar, she also owed herself a good nights sleep._

* * *

'Avey wavey-' Oliver sang right beside Avery's ear. She opened her eyes and punched him without hesitation. 'Ow! Fuck! Why do you have to punch me so damn hard?!'

'Why do you have to change my name to stupid nicknames?!' She snapped back. Oliver rolled his eyes at her and crossed his arms.

'What are you doing in my room anyway?' He questioned her, looking her up and down as she lead across his bed.

'Sleeping.' She answered simply.

'And why can't you sleep in your own room?'

'Because I was waiting for you.' She said as she rose from his bed and sat herself on his desk, legs crossed and eyes on him.

He sat in his chair that he kept by his desk and looked up at her, Avery waited for a response. 'Why? What do you want?'

'I need your help.' She said seriously, looking him in the eyes.

'With what?'

'You read a lot of books Oliver, a lot of books that most people don't have access to-'

'You're point being?' He narrowed his eyes at her, he was suspicious of her, he was always so damn suspicious of her.

'I need to find out about something but you cannot tell anyone.'

'Who would I tell anyway? You and Lucinda are the only people here that I actually speak to and like fuck am I going to tell Lucinda anything.' Avery knew he was right and she knew she could trust him but she still clicked her tongue, trying to draw out the suspense; there would be more chance of him helping her then.

'This is serious Oliver, I mean it!' She snapped, placing her feet on his for dramatic effect.

'Okay, okay.'

'Have you ever read anything about the Philosophers Stone?' She asked, she watched him intently as she tried to gage his response. She had to know if whether or not she was being completely honest.

'I... I don't know.' He looked down at his lap with furrowed eyebrows, well that didn't seem too promising.

'You either have or you haven't Oliver, I don't want some half assed answer.' She rolled her eyes, visibly irritated.

'Don't get snappy with me! I'm trying to remember.' He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands only pursuing Avery's irritation even more.

'Well why is it taking you so long?!' She growled, she adjusted her position on the desk so her feet were now firmly resting on Olivers legs, where he was sat in front of her, pinning him to his seat.

'Jesus Christ you asked me literally 10 seconds ago, why is it so god damn important to you anyway?!' He demanded.

'It just is okay!'

'You're going to have to expand on that.' He said. Avery crossed her arms and glowered down at him.

'I don't have to expand on anything actually, I'm just asking for your help, I don't understand why that's so hard.'

He sighed long and deep, 'I remember coming across the word, somewhere, I'm not sure when or what book but it does ring a bell.'

'Could you find out more for me? Look through your books, try and find something.' She persisted, he grinned back at her.

'What's in it for me?'

Asshole. 'Uh my appreciation and realisation that you actually are good for something?'

'Sorry what stone was it again? My minds suddenly just gone blank.' Avery rolled her eyes again at him, she hated having to come to him for help.

'I don't know what I can offer you, in case you haven't noticed I have nothing!'

Without any former notice Oliver suddenly grabbed Avery's legs that were resting on his knees and pulled them as he pushed his chair backwards, causing her ass to smack the floor and her legs to stick up in the air. Oliver gripped onto his stomach as he howled out in laughter, tears streaming down his face.

'What the-?!'

'Oh man!' Oliver said in between breaths, 'You should've seen the look on his face!' Avery ground her teeth as he started slapping his knee, 'The funniest thing I've seen all week!'

Avery shot up, 'What was that for?!' She barked, she raised her fist in attempt to hit him but Oliver clutched onto her wrist before it could make any connection with his jaw. He pulled her closer.

'There, now we're even.' He smirked, Avery blinked.

'Wait, so that means...' Her eyes widened a bit as she realised what he was insinuating.

'Yes, I'll do some research into this stupid stone or whatever.' He agreed, letting go of her wrist and leaning back in his chair.

Avery grinned and patted his head, 'See, I knew you were good for something.' She said earning a slight scowl from him.

'I do too much for you.' He remarked, Avery rolled her eyes at him and then turned to the door.

'No, I'd say we work in equivalent exchange.' She said as she flashed one more smile at him before closing he door behind her. Times like this she was grateful for Oliver, she knew if she had asked anybody else they would pry and pry until they got answers whereas Oliver didn't, he just did as he was told.

Now Avery had that sorted out she just had to figure out how to get back to Central Command HQ, she couldn't just waltz in there unexpected, Roy definitely wasn't going to vouch for her and Hughes was too much of a bet- she couldn't be quite sure. As of right now she would have to wait it out, wait for an opportunity to come along, there was no rush as far as she knew but still something about the philosophers stone seemed urgent.

Who knows though, she might get lucky.

There was one thing that Avery was certain of though, she definitely did not want to come across the Elric brothers again whilst on her search, which was highly possible as they were looking into the same thing. The metal kid was alright, he seemed rather reserved and well mannered but that other pip squeak- he was a whole other story. That damn shouty, little, angry, loudmouth, if Avery ever saw him again without Military officers crawling all around the place she would not be held responsible for her actions. The damn midget fucking snitched on her, who does he even think he is? Walking around all high and mighty thinking he can get angry at who he wants just because he's the _'youngest State Alchemist in Amestry'-_ yes Avery was aware of the fact that she did press a few buttons but his fuse shouldn't be so damn short anyway. Damn pip squeak.


	4. Chapter 4

'So do you understand your task?'

Avery glanced up at Sargent as he hovered over her, 'Yes.'

'Repeat it back to me.'

'Infiltrate Shou Tucker's home and take him out before his state alchemist assessment.' She repeated back, being sure not to miss out any detail. He hated it when she couldn't relay her missions back to him exactly, he would go on about how detail is key. He was one of Madame's head men, he was the one to usually give us our tasks- for someone who was so close to Madame he actually came from the military, Avery couldn't help think that it was a risky combination.

'Correct. _Before_ his state alchemist assessment is the most important part.' He reminded her as he passed her a piece of paper. 'This is a photo of the target and his address.' She looked down at the piece of paper to see a tired, middle aged man- eyes covered by his glasses. Her eyes furrowed.

'Is this it? Where's his file?' She questioned.

'You don't need that. All you need to know is that he's the Sewing Life alchemist and he's successfully created a chimera that could talk to humans, had it's own consciousnesses. He specialises in bio-alchemy.'

'Is that all? Why can't I know what he's done? I need to know, I can't just take him out without information!' Avery argued back, taken a step towards him as she demanded an answer. Sargent's eyes flashed and he slammed his hand against the desk causing her to jump.

'As I said.' He growled, 'You don't need them, this case is not in our records so there are no files for him. The less you know the better.' He growled, looking directly at her as he held his ground. Sargent was one of the very few people she knew that could stand against her in a staring competition and boy, did he hold his ground.

'How can he not be in your records if i'm being ordered to kill him?'

Avery jumped back as she heard his fist slam onto the table violently, 'As I said you don't need to know anymore than what I've already told you! As your Sargent I have given you an order and expect that order to be filled out. If not you will have to answer to me!' He bellowed at her, causing her fists to clench. 'Do I make myself clear?'

Avery glared up at him, being sure he could gauge all the anger n hatred she was silently perpetuating towards him and then smiled, 'Crystal clear.'

Avery crouched down in the bush and waited patiently for who was ever in there to come out, she needed to spend the day scoping out the area to figure out a thorough plan but there was one extra car in the drive way and she had no idea who it belonged to but the more people around the more risky her job was. However, Avery had the suspicion that she had seen that vehicle before, she just couldn't point where.

Across the garden she could see a window and just about make out shadows of people against the wall inside, if she got closer to the window then that meant she would be able to see who was inside. She crept out from the bush to get a better view of her route, _it's a pretty open space which means i'm going to have to move fast._ Avery took in a deep breath and got into position, ready to sprint across.

'Alexander!' She heard a voice cry causing her body to freeze immediately. This sounded like a girls voice, a young girls voice-

'Alexander where are you?' Avery looked around to try and spot the owner of the voice but it was no use, a large part of the garden was cut off from where she was stood. This was stupid of her, she should've been more careful but who on earth could this be?

'Alexander!' The voice cried again, and _who the hell is Alexander?_ Avery wondered only moments before she felt a hot breath behind her. Just as she turned around to investigate what was going on her back slammed against the ground and her body was engulfed in white fur. She let out a shriek scream.

'Alexander there you are!' The girl yelled as she ran over to the dog and Avery, 'Who's this?' Avery continued to scream any chance that her mouth wasn't being smothered by this mammoth, heavy, fluff.

'Get off... of... me!' She struggled in between breaths, feeling her lungs slowly being crushed by the creature.

'Alexander! You caught some body well done!' The girl cried excitedly as she petted her mongrel. Doing nothing whatsoever to help Avery out.

'Get this beast off of me!'

'Alexander isn't a beast!'

'He is too and he's crushing my wind pipe!' She yelled back. She continued to flair her arms about dramatically, her body seizing up, she hated dogs, big ones especially she's seen how vicious they could be and she didn't trust them. Not one bit.

'Avery!' She heard a voice shout, _oh shit._ Not just any voice, 'What on earth are you doing here?!' Mustang demanded as he marched over to her. Just her luck.

'What are you doing here?' She argued back.

'I don't think you're in any position to be asking questions right now.' He sneered, hovering over her as his eyes traced over her and the dog STILL suffocating her.

'Colonel what's all the noise?' Another familiar voice joined, she could hear footsteps getting closer before they stopped and were followed by, 'You have got to be kidding me!'

'Brother, look! It's the girl from before!'

'Hey this girl has a name you know!' She retorted, although it was quite apparent that no one was listening to her.

'Why the hell is she here?!' Ed demanded, gesturing over to her dramatically. Just as Avery thought things couldn't get any worse.

'That's what I wanted to know.' Roy responded, still not taking his eyes off of Avery.

'Can someone please get this DAMN DOG OFF OF ME!' She screamed in hope of gaining someones attention and that's when she heard it, another voice, _his voice._

'Alexander, come on now, come here boy.' He called, Alexander leaped off of her and ran off finally giving Avery a chance to breathe before she looked up at the saviour. _Shou Tucker._ She leaped up to her feet quickly so she could face everyone.

'Well? Why are you here?' Roy queried once more. She looked around to see six pair of eyes on her, including the dog- they all wanted an answer. And to be honest who could blame them.

'I was sent here on work.' Avery replied vaguely, she didn't quite know how to answer, Roy knew exactly the type of work that she did and she hoped he wouldn't call her up on it. 'To investigate Tucker's research!' She thought of quickly, trying to quickly formulate a story to follow. It was kind of hard however considering her limited amount of information. She was still trying to figure out herself as to why she was sent to kill him, he seemed harmless enough, if anything he seemed quite weak.

'What?' Roy questioned, furrowing his eyebrows, 'Why?'

'Sargent and Madame are actually very interested in Tucker's research and what he's done so far-' She then swiftly turned to face Tucker, reaching her hand out to shake his. 'It's nice to meet you, sorry to drop in so unexpectedly. I was hoping you would've been contacted by now but I guess by the look of confusion on your face that you haven't.' She made an attempt to be as formal and polite as possible, if she spoke how she usually did Mustang wouldn't stand for it for even a second, but with Tucker with them and her being ever so mannerly there wasn't much he could really do.

'What possible interest could bio alchemy be to the A.O.S?' Roy narrowed his eyes down at Avery, she winced slightly and hoped Shou didn't know what that stood for. Roy, he didn't believe her still. It took every ounce of will strength she had inside her not to roll her eyes and retort some sarcastic answer back.

She smiled as soon as a response dawned on her, 'It benefits both sides, having a chimera with human intelligence by our side would mean the military would save money on people and it would also mean that we would be less dependant on the military- any excuse to break away from you dogs.' She sneered at all of them, earning daggers from all ends. Although everything she was saying was a complete lie she realised as the words left her mouth that it actually held some truth in it, this would benefit both sides completely, which made her mission even more confusing.

'Surely I would've heard something from Madame Christmas?' Roy continued to probe, Avery closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she started to feel a vein throbbing on her head. Why did he have to ask so many damn questions?

'Feel free to ring up the Sargent yourself, i'm happy to wait until then but he will only tell you the same thing as I and then both him and Madame wouldn't be very happy with you for wasting their time.' She smiled at him, knowing full well that the mention of Madame being annoyed with him would be the only likely thing to make him back down. And of course, like the dog he was, he backed down at the mention of his owner. _Good boy._

'I'm happy for her to be here too, I don't mind at all.' Tucker stepped in, Avery looked at him as he smiled at her. 'Sometimes it's comforting to be in a house filled with people, wouldn't you agree?'

'Does that mean me and Alexander have someone to play with daddy?' The little girl asked, wrapping her arms around him. Avery's stomach dropped as she stared at the man and his soft smile, _he was a dad?!_ She couldn't think straight. _She was ordered to kill someones dad?_

A whiny voiced ripped her away from her thoughts, 'What? You can't be serious?'

Avery turned her head over to Ed and growled, 'Pipe it pipsqueak.' Ed's jaw clenched and growled back at Avery.

'Don't call me that!' He yelled at her, she winced at the screech in his voice.

'Don't yell at me!' She returned, yelling back at him as she stared him down. She expected Ed to back down by this point but he continued to stare right back at her, mirroring the fire in her eyes.

'Will both of you stop that?' Mustang demanded but that just caused for Ed and Avery to shift their glares over to him.

'Can't they come back another time?' Avery asked the same time Ed asked the same thing about her.

'I don't see why I should be the one to go!' She bit at him.

'Well why should I?!'

'Brother...'

'Neither of you are staying if you don't be quiet right now!' Mustang declared loudly causing both of them to reluctantly back down. He brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose and mumbled to himself, 'there couldn't be a worse combination of people.'

'Now that's solved I was just about to show the Elric brothers my library, would you like to accompany us Avery?' Tucker asked, smiling at Avery again. She wasn't sure why but it caught her off guard.

She blinked before replying, 'Uh, yeah okay.' She responded.

'I'm not sure how much help this will be but this is my library, feel free to look around.' Avery gasped at all the books in front of her, it was nearly as big as the one she collapsed at Central Command HQ, but tidier and with better lighting.

'Oh wow!' Ed cried excitedly, running over to the first shelf that caught his attention. 'Let's get started with this shelf!'

'I'll try starting over here.' Alphonse responded, pointing to the other side of the shelf.

'I'm going back to work now, i'll send someone by to get you this evening.' Roy told them but the boys were too engrossed into their book to notice anything that he was saying.

'I don't think they're listening to you Roy.'

'They never are anyway.' Roy sighed, smiling slightly at the two boys. Avery watched Ed, she'd never seen someone so eager to pick up a book, not even Oliver. She crinkled up her face in disgust.

'They've got some ability to focus, I'm not sure they know we're here anymore. Quite a catch these two... A couple of prodigies.' Tucker commented, pushing up his glasses to the bridge of his nose. There was a hint of admiration in his voice, or so that's what she assumed anyway. When he caught her staring at him he made sure to look at her and smile, 'Anyway i'll go walk the colonel out. Enjoy.' He said before walking away.

Avery turned back around to face the rest of the library before it dawned on her, _shit! She was stuck here for the damn day._ If Tucker just caught her walking around the house aimlessly he could get suspicious. Although Avery was still struggling to figure out as to why she had to kill him, usually she never had any qualms but this... This just felt wrong. He was someones father, someone who was certified and worked for the military, what could he have done?

Avery walked through the library and scanned all the books with her eyes, it was all alchemy based, bio-alchemy mainly, she didn't really understand what this had to do with the Philosophers Stone. She assumed that was why they were here, it would make sense considering that's essentially how she found them. She figured whilst she was down here, she could at least try and find some answers. 'Is it Al or Alphonse?' She asked the big metal guy. He diverted his attention from his book and looked at her.

'Huh?'

'Do you like to be called Alphonse or just Al?' She repeated, eyeing him up. She folded her arms and leaned against the shelf beside her as she waited for an answer.

'Al will do.' He answered before pausing, looking her up and down as she placed all her weight against the book shelf. 'Um, I don't think you should really be doing that.' Avery blinked a few times as she tried to understand what he meant and then it sunk it, she smiled slightly and moved from the book shelf.

'Well Al,' She said, sticking out her hand towards him, 'It's nice to meet you.' _Shame I can't say the same for your brother._

Al took her hand, she tried not to jump as the cold metal made contact with her skin. 'Nice to meet you too Avery.' He responded, and although she couldn't see his face she could hear the sincerity in his voice. She couldn't help but smile and nod in agreement.

'There's something I've been meaning to ask you.' She said, 'At the library, when I accidentally collapsed a heap of books on you and your brother, I saw something. Concerning, well, this.' She gestured towards his body, realising as the words left her mouth that this was coming across a lot ruder than she intended. 'It's just that, your head, and your body, they weren't exactly attached and-'

'Enough.' She heard a voice from behind her. Her face dropped immediately at the voice, she didn't realise one sound could grate on her so much.

'I wasn't talking to you pip squeak.' She turned around to see him stood right behind he, eyes glowering at her. She would've almost have been intimidated if she wasn't looking two inches down at him.

'Brother it's okay.'

'I said enough, drop the subject.' He bit, Avery smirked.

'Aw, am I hitting a nerve?' She got a kick out of watching the glint of anger flash in his eyes but she decided not to push it, this time anyway. 'I'll leave it for now Fullmetal.' She declared as she started walking off. She made out the sound of a grunt behind her but chose to just ignore it. She did have work to do but until she could think of a valid excuse for her to be strolling around his building instead of doing 'research' she was gonna take a nap.

When Avery woke up, it had nothing to do with the hard floor she was sleeping on, or the encyclopedia that she was using as a pillow. No, she's slept through much more uncomfortable conditions. What woke her up was the incessant shouting that she could hear from across the room.

'Al, what are you doing?! You're supposed to be reading!' She heard a loud screech, groggily she got up, rubbing her eyes and wiping the dribble away from her mouth that had happened to slip out in her slumber. What were they being do damn loud about. When she found the source of the voices she couldn't help but smirk slightly as she peered behind the shelf.

Al was stood there with the little girl on his shoulders as he received a scolding from Ed. 'Um...' He trailed, 'Nina looked like she wanted to play.'

'Well in case you forgot, we didn't come here to play horsie!' Ed cried in response, arms flailing everywhere as if it would his cement his point even more. Next thing she knew a dark shadow flew over her, she realised it was the dog when it landed on Ed. Causing him to face plant the ground as the mutt sat on him.

'Alexander says he wants to play too!' Nina claimed excitedly. Avery couldn't contain it any longer, without a moments a notice a loud laughter bellowed out of her lips as hugged her stomach.

'HAHAHAAHAH!' She cried, 'You... Look... So... Tiny!' She forced out in between laughs, she stood up again, resuming her posture but not doing so without wiping a tear from her eye. She looked up to see Al and Nina laughing too. Ed growled as he pushed the dog off of him.

'I am not tiny!' He yelled, 'If that's how you want to play it... I don't know why you're laughing Avery.' Ed grinned mischievously, gaining her attention. '... Playtime is over! I will not lose this time! I, Edward Elric, will use my considerable powers to vanquish you Alexander!' He declared dramatically as he pointed over to the dog before averting his finger over to her, 'And you! YOU MANGY MUTT!'

Avery's face dropped as it dawned on her what he just said, 'HEY WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MANGY MUTT! YOU SHORT ASS!'

'YOU! AND DON'T CALL ME A SHORT ASS!'

'Hmph.' Avery smirked as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and changed the position of her stance, 'you think you can vanquish me?' She asked, raising her arms and bringing them up into fists, 'Bring it!'

Ed and Avery mimicked each others stance before running towards each other, screaming. Just as she was about a few feet away from him she changed her move and climbed on the book shelf on her left hand side before she jumped off of it. She landed right behind him, taking him off guard which gave her the perfect opportunity to jump on him from behind. Wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. She laughed as he let out a strangled cough.

'You were saying about vanquishing me.' She gloated gleefully as she continued to feel his strangled breath against her wrists.

'It's not over yet.' He uttered, Avery didn't really understand what he meant by that until he started spinning around swiftly, bringing her along with him. She hung on for dear life as she felt the wind rush against her body but she could start to feel the unwanted sense of nausea settle in her stomach. She had to decide between being flung across the room or throwing up everywhere, and as appealing as chundering all over the pip squeak was she made the sensible choice and let go. The back of her body slamming into Al's legs. She allowed herself a second to recover since a second was all she had before getting back up and rushing towards Ed.

She knew if she ran at him with full force, that would be enough to send the pip squeak crashing down. She refused to lose, especially to him. For the sake of her dignity if anything. She smirked to herself as her feet lifted off the ground and she lunged towards him. Her confidence in the fact that she would win this fight cemented even more so when she saw the look of fear in his eyes but by the time she figured out the true meaning for that flash of white in his eyes it was too late.

For the second time today, he body was squashed against the floor as the dog sat on her. Only this time Ed accompanied her as their legs tangled up together, she prayed that they wouldn't snap under the weight of the dog because honestly, it was completely possible.

'GET OFF ME YOU MANGY MUTT!' They both screamed in unison, thrashing around violently in a manic. They could here Al's and Nina's laughing in the background.

'Good boy Alexander! You win!' Nina praised the dog affectionately, running over to him and giving him a big hug. Alexander averted his attention over to her which meant that Ed and Avery were free once again. Swiftly, they scrambled to their feet getting back into position.

'Where were we?' Ed asked, raising up his fist.

'I think we were at the part where I was just about to beat you.' She grinned, Ed growled at her.

'Guys, I think you should maybe tone it down with the fighting.' Al interjected, stepping in between the two. 'You're going to end up collapsing the library again at this rate.' Avery couldn't fault what he was saying, he was right. The last thing she wanted to do was to get kicked out of here, she would be getting told off from all angles if she did. She would never hear the end of it. As tempting as beating this twerps ass would've been Avery decided to nod in agreement.

'Okay.' She complied, 'We will finish this at a later date.'

'What makes you think that we are going to see each other again?' Ed asked, frowning at the thought.

Avery brought her forefinger and thumb to her temples and grimaced, 'Unfortunately the probability of us meeting again is looking increasingly more likely.'

Ed looked up at her and furrowed his eyebrows 'What do you mean by that?' He asked, confused by her statement.

'Hm? Don't worry.' Avery looked up and over at Ed and his puzzled expression, for some reason his nosey little face bugged her. 'What makes you think i'd tell a little brat like you anyway?' She barked. Ed's face went red, anyone could tell from a mile off that he was close to blowing a basket.

'WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE?'

'Hey Chief! Your ride has arrived.' Havoc's voiced called as he stepped into the library. He stopped abruptly as he glanced down at the floor below him. 'What are you doing down there Ed?' He asked as Ed was once again, being sat on by the dog.

'Oh, uh... Let's just say i'm taking a break from a long day of research.' He wheezed out as his windpipes were being crushed. Avery noticed the colour wash from his face the moment the dog got off.

'After all that, you must be dog tired.' Tucker joked, Avery snickered as Ed's face darkened. 'Why don't you come on back tomorrow?' Avery couldn't believe how much time she had wasted today, she found out absolutely nothing out about Shou Tucker, she didn't even get a decent whereabouts of his house. And all because she got distracted by those damn alchemists and Nina, how did she let her guard slip so easily?

'You're really going to come again?' Nina cried excitedly turning to Al for an answer, Avery feel a small smile creep on her face and she held it back immediately, biting quickly on her cheek.

'We'll play some more tomorrow. Okay, Nina?' Al replied softly.

'You coming Avery?' Havoc gestured as Ed and Al walked past him, out through the door.

Avery arched an eyebrow at him, 'What?'

'Colonel told me to take you back home after these two.' He responded grinning.

'No.' She said crossing her arms, Havoc's face dropped at her reply.

'Aw come on.'

'Absolutely not.'

'I'll even let you sit in the front seat after we drop them off.' He offered, Avery growled at him.

'How old do you think I am?!' She knew that bastard only ordered Havoc to give her a lift home because he didn't entirely trust her reason for being here. How dumb did he think she was?

'Well to be honest you aren't really being given a choice.' He announced as he suddenly picked her up and placed her over his shoulder, he smiled and ignored her protests and kicks as he walked out the door.

'Hey! What do you think you're doing? Put me down!'

Havoc paused and looked over at Tucker, 'Oh, Mr. Tucker, I almost forgot. I've got a message for you. It's from the colonel. He says, "Don't forget, assessment day is coming soon."

Avery stopped, remembering what the Sergeant said about assessment day. What was so important about it? Why did it have to be done before then? _Why did it have to be done in the first place?_ 'Yes... I know.'

'Right.' Havoc nodded.

Avery could hear Ed groan the moment he saw Havoc place her in the back with them, she couldn't help but return the sound. _The feelings mutual pip squeak._

 _'_ Why is she here?' Ed grumbled but Avery just ignored him and chose to look out the window instead as the car drove off. Getting in a fight in a moving vehicle probably wouldn't go down to well with Roy, or anyone else for that matter.

'So Avery, where do you live?' Al asked, making conversation in a tense atmosphere. She sighed and rested her cheek on her hand as it rested against the car window.

'You wouldn't know it.' She replied bluntly, _as if she was going to give them any information on her life._

'You never know, our search has surprisingly lead me and Ed to quite a few places.'

'Oh yeah, your search.' She replied nonchalantly, 'Tell me. Why is it that you two are looking into the Philosophers Stone?' She asked, 'Like what has Tucker's research got to do with that?' Fuck it, if she wanted answers about this stone she might as well as the two people looking into it. She could end up finding something out.

'That's not important.' Ed chimed in, she looked down at Ed tensing his metal fist, and then over to Al's metal body. What actually happened to these two?

Avery looked up at Ed, 'Well we both know that's not true.' She sighed, 'But i'll leave it for now.' She muttered earning a confused look from Ed. She didn't know enough yet, to just start bombarding them with questions. For the rest of the car journey they all remained silent, not having anything that they wanted to say in front of each other. Avery wasn't so bothered about it though, she preferred it this way too.

By the time she got back she was shattered and headed straight into bed, who would've thought that two boys, a dog, and a little girl could be so tiring? And besides she wanted to avoid all contact with the Sargent anyway, she didn't want to answer any questions right now. Especially with how conflicted she was.

Never before had she really questioned her kills, it was her job, what other choice did she have? But this, this felt wrong. Shou Tucker was someone's father, he was all that girl Nina had. She needed him, Avery could see it in Nina's eyes just how much she looked up to him. It was kind of heartwarming. And plus she couldn't find any reason as to why he should be her next target, there was nothing that pointed towards him being a villain. Even the Sargent couldn't tell her anything, even so though, in all of her years of her being with them never once had she been ordered to kill without good reason. She sighed loudly and wrestled with her sheets, her brain hurt from thinking.

Her only option as of right now was to assess the situation again tomorrow. This time she couldn't get so easily distracted by some boys either.


	5. Chapter 5

'Avery wasn't exactly listening to their conversation per say, but she couldn't help but overhear it as she looked through the books. They were talking about Nina's mother and how she just upped and left 2 years ago- her heart kind of sunk for Nina. She could feel her loneliness, as much as she denied it Avery knew that there would be a little special place inside of Nina specifically for her mom that was now hollow and aching. Avery had things she wanted to comment too but she hung back quietly, sifting through the book quickly, eyes skimming words with nothing sinking in.

It seemed further she looked the farther she got from her answers, although if she was being completely honest she didn't know what she was looking for right now. Information on the philosophers stone? Reasons as to why she should kill some innocent girls seemingly harmless father? She had no fucking clue really, she just guessed that if she kept looking something would eventually pop out. She was wrong so far.

'My arms are killing.' Edward complained, rubbing his shoulder for extra comfort.

'Maybe you should try to move around some, Brother.' Was the last thing she heard Al say before she slipped out the room unnoticed. She wasn't going to get swept up in whatever those two were going to do again, she could just sense that Ed had something planned, she could hear the slight mischevious in the tone of his voice as he stood up. It was a tone she was too familiar with herself, she could recognize it from a mile off. She went with her gut instinct and left.

If she had any chance to look around it was now, Tucker had said that he had to go out to collect some things and from the sounds of it he was still not back yet, she's not the type to waste an opportunity like that, that's not how she's been programmed. She walked through the corridors silently, her footsteps barely making an echo- you couldn't afford to be noisy when you're basically a trained hitman. As she walked along her eyes kept glancing up at images hung on the wall of Tucker and a beautiful looking women beside him- the women smiled at the camera, looking carefree and happy. In her arms contained a little bundle of blankets wrapped around a tiny body sleeping peacefully- _Nina_.

Looking at this image anyone would have thought they had a bright future ahead of them, she looked down. _Nothing good is ever built to last._ The further she walked down the hallway however the stranger she felt, she noticed after that there were no more photos of them together as a happy family, if she was being honest there were hardly any photos of them at all. The images of Tucker, baby Nina or his pretty wife soon came to a hold and the frames were replaced with a painting of flowers, sea's- that is until Avery reached the end of the corridor. Right at the back, placed precisely beside a door was a photo of Tucker again. Looking happier than he ever had in any of the previous images holding up a badge and grinning at the camera. _A State Alchemist badge._

'He really does pride his work, doesn't he?' Avery mumbled to herself, her eyes than adjusted from the picture frame over to the door beside it. Without hesitation, she reached for the handle and opened it. If Avery was an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl she would've cringed at the sight of the inside of the room, Shou's science lab. It was clear immediately that this was where he conducted all of his experiments, alchemy, research- it was done here. Her eyes gazed around the room, glancing at all the pickled jars of eyes, tongues, hands- failed experiment, creatures, crying out from their cages, nothing in this room was natural, pure. Not only was the room unslightly to the ordinary eye, the stench was also unfathomable- the stench of vinegar mixed it with nearly rotting flesh and sulphuric acid. Her senses were heightened and the smell came in stronger and stronger with each breath she took.

Regardless of the smell and the sights, Avery remained completely cool, unbothered even- she was merely just intrigued. She made her way over to his desk and shuffled through his papers, her back to the door. If she was being honest she didn't understand much of what she was seeing, most of it was Alchemy based and she didn't deal with Alchemy at all. Not that she'd ever tell anyone but she didn't completely agree with it, it seemed unnatural as well as cowardly. The only time she had ever witnessed Alchemy in use was during a fight, all it did was breed war and destruction. Not that war and destruction was something she really cared about but it was an observation she made many, many moons ago. Alchemist were dogs to the military, sent to fight battles that didn't have to be theirs, and then rather than fighting like a real warrior with skills and strength they used stupid circles and magic- keeping them safe and leaving everyone at risk. If Avery was _really_ being honest with herself, truly honest; she had no respect for them. They pissed her off with their self entitlement and sense of authority that each one of them seemed to think they had. Same with that Elric kid, he had the same sense of self-entitlement as the rest of them and the pipsqueak was only 15. At least _she_ risked _her_ life nearly every damn day killing those that deserved to die. She went in head first and did whatever it took to complete a mission and did she ever get any gratitude? Did any of them get any gratitude like those damn Alchemists did? No. Instead her and every other member of the A.O.S all across Amestris were under strict instructions to take commands from every State Alchemist in the city as well as any authority that regarded or were assosciated witht the militry. She didn't get a choice. _'It's either kill or be killed.'_ She shook her head as _his_ voiced crossed through her head, in attempt to shake it out. She couldn't think about this, those emotions were safest tucked away- and not just for her sake.

'You sure do look lost in thought.' Tucker's voice claimed all of a sudden causing Avery to jump around in surprise to face him.

She had to think of an excuse, and quick. 'Excuse me, the library limited my extense of research so I took some initiative and decided to look around some more- I took things into my own hands again before checking in with the proper authority- I apologise.' She nodded her head curtly. She grimaces in disgust at her sudden manerisms when she was certain her white bangs were shadowing her face. _Why am I being so polite?!_

Shou Tucker pretended like he didn't notice the slight recoil in Avery's polite tone as she finished her sentence and smiled instead. 'Fascinating, isn't it?' He asked which caught her off guard. She looked up at him, slightly confused for a second as she watched him marvel at his own Lab. She looked around at all the bizarre things that were contained within these walls, although she wasn't physically repelled, she definitely wasn't on the same level as Tucker and his admiration at his own work as well as bio-alchemy.

'It's definitely most peculiar than most alchemy that I've seen.'

'I've spent many hours in here advancing my research for this city and it's government.' He said as he walked over to his desk beside her. It wasn't until he was mere inches from her that she realized this was _it._ This was the perfect moment to complete her mission. For a split second, she didn't think and by instinct reached for the blade she had hidden and strapped underneath the wrist of her sleeve where the fabric of the torso length jumper loosened up. But she stopped herself before things could progress any further, he was still talking. 'You know it's taken a long time to get to where I am today.' He sighed solemnly and closed his eyes, Avery couldn't help but tilt her head at him in curiosity. 'I've had to sacrifice a lot, this is now my life.'

Avery nodded in understanding, she knew what it was like for her job to be her life- her very purpose and being of existence. She lived and breathed her job, lived and breathed to _kill._ 'I hear you have assessment day coming up, that must be very daunting for someone in your position- with Nina.'

Shou looked at her and agreed, 'Yes, it is. Things were very tough for us before I got my state alchemy certification- we struggled. I- I struggled. I can't go back there.' A slight fire of determination lit in his eyes.

'Doesn't it ever feel wrong to play around with Earths natural creation like that?' The question escaped Avery's lips before she even had a chance to stop, but her regret about asking the question didn't make her any less curious- or her beliefs any less true.

Tucker chuckled slightly to himself, he had heard people question the morality of him playing with God's creation but never the _Earths. She really was an unusual one, wasn't she?_ 'From the beginning of mankind we have always strived for improvement- but that improvement has to lead towards something. Perfection! I am simply doing the same.' Tucker's smile brightened once more as he properly studied the girl before him. There was something about this girl... 'You would be a prime example.'

Avery's grasp on the weapon tightened, she didn't like how he was looking at her. As if he knew something she didn't... It was unsettling.

His smile grew even wider, 'it makes sense now.' Avery wanted to cry back that nothing he was saying was making sense but would it have just been futile? She could feel her fingers delicately fiddle around with the clasp that kept the blade strapped to her left wrist- someone could be here in minutes to clean up after her if she needed. She saw a house phone upstairs in the living room.

 _Click._ It was released!

'Daddy! 'Daddy!' Avery froze at the sound of Nina's voice. 'Look at what I and big brother Ed did!' She cried excitedly wandering around the house as she searched for her father.

'I best go, Nina's looking for me.' He said and turned around, he stopped just as he reached the door. 'You don't see it but I know eventually _you_ will grow to understand.' And he opened the door and left, leaving Avery alone in his Lab perplexed by his words. What did he mean? Why would _she_ specifically grow to understand? She was almost certain he emphasized the word 'you' in his sentence.

Shou grinned to himself as he walked through the corridor, following his daughter's voice, somewhat amazed. He had heard the rumors many years ago but assumed they were just that- rumors. However here she stood in his house, studying his research. Clearly, she didn't know and neither did the Elric brothers. He wondered who did though.

Avery relayed the conversation in her head, she couldn't be specific but she just knew something was off. Tonight would be the night. She had decided. Although she had no hard evidence to back anything up she knew in her gut that this man wasn't safe- _but is that enough reason to kill a man? Because you believe him not to be safe?_ Avery shook her head and tried to rid of any moral objections- she was sent here on a mission and Sargent would never ask her to target an innocent man. He hadn't before. She needs to trust his judgment.

She looked over at the clock; it was still daylight. She would return to the sunsets and complete her mission- she still had plenty of time. What could he do with those brothers around and assessment day coming up? She nodded to herself and headed towards the door.

She didn't bother to say goodbye and just headed straight for the garden, down the pathway and to the gate. 'Avery, are you going already?' She jumped at the question and spun around to see Al walking towards her with Nina on his shoulders along with Ed following slightly further behind.

'Who cares if she goes!' Ed shouted from behind. Avery frowned and continued to look around confused.

'What was that sound? It almost sounded like a small baby mouse.' She said.

'HEY! WHAT?!' She could hear his meek cries but chose to ignore him this time, every encounter with this kid was tiring.

'I've got to go.' She replied curtly, looking ahead outwards the gate.

'We'll play instead tomorrow! Okay, big sis? Promise?' Nina smiled brightly causing Avery's eyes to widen slightly. _Big Sis..._

She looked up at Nina, her tiny hands holding on to Al's head as she still smiled at Avery. _I... I've never been called big sis before._

An unfamiliar warmth trickled into Avery's heard but as soon as it was there it was replaced by a wave of guilt. She was going to be taking this little girls father from him- _It has to be done!_ She could practically hear the Sargent shout in response. Avery nodded at Nina and smiled as much as she physically could and reached to open the gate.

Before she opened it however she paused, 'Nina... You're a good kid. I promise to play with you tomorrow.' She said and then ran out the gates and ran all the way back home, not stopping for breaths. The longer she ran the less she could think. Her thoughts replaced with heavy breaths and thuds with every step she took.

She didn't want to think, not right now.

Oliver put the book down and sighed, taking his glasses off to rub his eyes. He was already through his third book and so far _still_ nothing about the Philosophers Stone. He was reading the encyclopedia history of Alchemy.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure it was real, the most he had ever heard of it was that it linked back to Alchemy- and that was from a drunk he came across in one of his missions. It had something to do with exentuating a persons alchemy? But he wasn't even completely sure that was true.

No matter how many different ways he tried to look at it he just couldn't quite understand why she would want to know about anything Alchemy related, let alone about the Philosophers Stone. How did she even hear of it? He was halfway through his third book and the Philosophers Stone was yet to be mentioned.

It's been four years and that girl was still a mystery to him. Just not a mystery that he seemed to hate so much anymore. When he thinks back to how long he's known her he almost finds it weird to think he spent nearly half that time with her. He _hated_ her.

Just being in the same room as she sent his blood to boiling point. He was adamant that she was pathetic, weak- he definitely did not think she was going to make it a year. However, something about her changed, or maybe something about him?

He trusts her and he doesn't remember the last time he's trusted, anyone. Well, he does but he doesn't like to think about it.

He jumped at the sudden loud thud and then slam that took place in the room beside him. It was then followed by a considerably loud crash. His face dropped, _oh no. She's in a bad mood._

'OW! CRAP!'

Oliver sighed and rose from his seat.

Avery clipped her belt on and pulled up the boots of her uniform. She just had to get ready, get ready and head back to complete her mission. She hurried around manically, dropping things and tripping up in the process. She knew she didn't technically need her uniform for this but she didn't stop to question her going back because if she did she knew she'd find the answer as to why- she was procrastinating. As much as she refused to admit it she was trying to put it off for as long as possible.

She told herself that it was to wait till everyone had gone.

'Do you have to always be so loud?' She heard an exasperated voice from behind her.

'Go away Oliver.' She said deadpanned without looking back to see who it was.

Oliver frowned, 'Well that's rude.'

'I said not now!' She bit, whipping her head around to shoot a glare at Oliver.

'What's wrong?' He took a step closer and looked at her face puzzlingly. He's seen her angry and pissed off before but very rarely distressed.

'Nothing I've just got a mission!' She insisted before slipping a small bile glass bottle inside her pocket. She headed towards the door. She was less than impressed when Oliver took a step in front of her blocking her pathway.

'You're not like this before a mission. Has something happened?' His frowned deepened as he studied her face, although her eyes were growing fierier at him with each word that left Oliver's mouth he could just tell. There was something else that was bothering her.

She paused for a moment, 'Do-...' she stopped herself. _Do you ever question your missions?_ She wanted to ask but closed her mouth before the words could come out because she knew they would be foolish. Of course, he didn't, she didn't even. It was her fault for getting herself in areas she shouldn't have. She should've just ignored Nina and Al and especially Ed, she shouldn't have gotten sidetracked. Even if it was just for the day. Damn, she was such an idiot.

'I've got to go.' She declared and pushed right past him.

Oliver watched as her hair was the last thing that left his sight.

 _She's still a mystery to him._

By the time Avery arrived back at Tucker's house the sun had set. She made note of how quiet the house seemed from the outside. Not a single sound apart from the wind rustling against the trees and the beat of her own heart. When she reached the front door she was surprised to see that it was open, this made her all the more hesitant to go in but she persevered regardless and held onto her breath as she took her first breath inside the house.

From years of training and stalking people, Avery's footsteps grew to be fairly light ones. Sneaking around became like breathing to her. She was such a natural at it she would do so without even realizing, she once overheard Sargent report back to someone Avery was like a newborn, easy to mold and adapt to her environment due to her slated memory. She figured this is why it came so easy to her.

Upon entering the house she sensed that something was off, she wasn't sure if it was intuition or a legitimate vibe in the house but something was off. There was an eeriness that tainted the walls throughout the house, it unsettled Avery because she didn't know what it was and she hated not knowing things. How can you be in control when you don't know what's going on? She reached the bottom of the stairs, deciding on whether she should check upstairs or his Lab and that was when she heard it.

 _CRASH!_

On instinct Avery instantly located the source of the loud banging and ran there almost immediately- _guess I'm checking his Laboratory first._ Avery made it to the end of the corridor and reached the doorway that contained his years of research. She was surprised to see it was open but she was even more surprised to see that inside there was Ed, pinning tucker to the wall and was in the middle of shouting at him. His face was like she had never seen him before, he wasn't just angry- he was _livid._ She didn't even know what type of fire could burn so bright in the eyes of a kid so small. Just from an appearance, he seemed incapable of hurting anyone but here he was looking like he was on the brink of killing a man. Not just any man, Shou Tucker. Nina's father!

'- You can only do so much with animals, after all. It's much easier when you start with a human, ISN'T THAT RIGHT?!'

Avery went cold. _What did Ed mean by easier when you start with a human?_ Avery knew she should've intervened and prevented Ed from seriously harming Shou Tucker, especially when that was meant to be her job but for some reason, she just couldn't move.

Tucker's smile was inhuman and sent shivers down all three's spine. **'** I don't see what you're so upset about... This is how we progress. Human experimentation is a necessary step. I would think a scientist would understand.'

'SHUT UP!' The roar of his voice shocked everyone in the room. Even Al but Ed still continued. 'Do you really think you can get away with this?! Messing around with someone's life like that?! Your own daughter?!' In just three seconds Ed had managed to make Avery's heart sank right to the bottom of her stomach like a ton of bricks crashing into the bottom of the lake.

 _No... What I'm hearing isn't true. It can't be. I refuse!_

'SHUT UP!' Ed screamed and punched him. The decibel of his voice mixed with the velocity of his fist crashing into Tucker's face sent the room shaking.

Avery could hear what they thought was a whimper but it was a sound she had ever hear before. It sounded unearthly, it sounded like ... Her eyes landed on what could only be the current topic at hand. Her eyes widened in horror. Unlike anything, she had ever seen before. The ghost of an innocent, happy, little girl trapped inside the shell of a monster. Contorted and shapes in all the wrong ways the chimera sat there looking scared and helpless.

Avery could feel her hands begin to shake as her cold blood flowed through her veins. She could feel her mind slowly sink into her body.

'SHUT UP!' Edward screamed as he continued to restrain Tucker my keeping his forearm pressed tightly against Tucker's throat, ' Do you really think you can get away with this?! Messing around with someone's life like that?! Your own daughter?!' Ed was shaking with anger, he just kept wishing that this was a bad dream- any minute now he was going to wake up in bed at home and start this day a new, but Ed learned a long time ago that no matter how much you wish for something to happen it never comes true. Avery could very clearly hear the desperation in Edward's voice straining.

'Someone's life, you say?' Tucker questioned, laughter escaping from his lips. 'Ha ha, you would know all about that, wouldn't you? Look at you, Fullmetal Alchemist... Look at your leg, your arm, at your brother! Those things are also the result of messing around with someone's life, aren't they?!'

'SHUT UP!' Edward screamed once again, throwing his fist into Tucker's face at full force. His glasses flung halfway across the room shattering as they hit the ground, his face already bruising but that didn't stop Tucker or the sinister laugh to escape from his lips afterward.

'HAHA! We are the same! We're the same... You're just like me! He declared as an unsettling amount of confidence oozed out of him with each word that left his mouth.

Ed's faces was a contortion of emotion mixed in together, horrified and enraged as he listened to Tucker. 'We're not!' He denied, his body practically shaking by this point.

'Oh, but yes we are! The opportunity was right in front of us, and we took it! We had to, even though we knew it was against the rules!'

'No!' Ed roared, 'Not me! Alchemist's don't...' He punched Tucker again before he finished his sentence, 'Don't do that!' _Punch._ 'I'm not!' _Punch._ 'I'M NOT!' Edward's voice made the entire room shake as he screamed, it was almost as if he was trying to convince himself rather than Tucker. He pulled his fist back to get in another punch when Al reached for his arm.

'Brother!' Al intervened, 'If you keep this up he will die!' Avery could see the fight going on inside of Ed's head, she could see that he didn't want to stop- he was battling between morals until something caught both of their attention.

On his left-hand side stood the chimera, _Nina,_ looking up at him. It, _she,_ had seen what he had done. Edward's entire stance changed in a split second.

The chimera strained to speak. 'Ed..ward...no. Daddy...do you hurt? Daddy?' He dropped Tucker and turned his body directly to Nina's- completely stunned. His shoulders went slack as if he had been defeated even though it was Tucker lying against the wall on the floor unconscious.

As much as his body screamed to do so he couldn't kill Tucker, otherwise, he really would be like him. He just continued to stare at Nina helplessly.

'Well if you won't then I will have to myself.' A dark voice declared behind him, 'Edward, move out of the way.' It was Avery's voice, he knew it was but at the same time, it sounded nothing like her. There was such a heavy underlying tone to it, it sent a chill down his spine. And then her words sunk into his head and he turned his body around. Surprised to see her stood there clutching onto a sheet taking steps closer and closer to him. Not him, Tucker.

'Avery! No! You can't!' Al cried questiongly. She just ignored him and continued to walk towards her target, both brothers sensed the dark aura emitting from her body.

Ed noticed her raise the hand holding onto the dagger and whipped into action last minute and jumped in front of Tucker. He grabbed onto the wrist that was holding onto the dagger and then the other one as she tried to use her free arm to get away. 'What the hell are you doing?!' Ed shouted at her.

Avery tried to wrestle out of his grip, flailing her body as much as possible within his tight grasp. His tight grasp against her leather gloves began to rub raw against her skin the more she attempted to wrestle out of his grip. Even for someone as well trained as her, getting out of the grip of a Fullmetal arm wasn't an easy feat. 'He must die!' She screamed right back at his face, nearly inches apart from him.

'And what will killing him achieve huh?! What will having his blood on your hands do for anyone?! What will it do for Nina?!' At that moment not only did he hate Tucker but he also hated Avery for making Ed do this, making Ed defend Tucker.

 _'_ That bastard deserves to die anyway! I must kill him! I HAVE TO KILL HIM!' Avery howled loudly, Ed faltered for a slight second but tried to recover before she could see. For some reason, he didn't think any sign of weakness was safe with her.

'Then that will make you as bad as him!' He retorted. All through this Al stood there helplessly not knowing what to do- physically he could restrain Avery but his big, metal body was the only thing shielding Nina from seeing any of this. He didn't want to cause her any more pain.

Avery lowered her head slightly, her white bangs shadowing the rest of her face. 'You really don't understand this world do you?' She asked quietly, although to Ed it sounded a lot more like a statement. 'Still so naive.'

'Don't you...' Ed shook, 'Don't you dare talk as if you know who I am! You know nothing about me!' His teeth gritted against each other, 'Just because I won't let you kill this man it doesn't make me naive. You're the naive one for thinking that just eliminating someone can get rid of the problem!' He yelled, for the first time he felt her body stop shaking. Even if it was for a moment he still felt it. Avery's big red eyes widened as she continued to listen to him speak, 'you really think that's going to make a difference? In any scenario?' He asked, 'People are still going to be suffering dammit, that not going to help anyone! Killing Tucker is just a cop-out to make yourself feel better!'

Avery couldn't believe what she was hearing, it was as if he knew what her life's work was but she knew he didn't because hardly anyone did. The A.O.S was classified, only a select few could know. And now she understood a bit more as to why that was because this was peoples views on it. This was Edward's view on it, even if he was just talking about Tucker it was all the same, wasn't it? He couldn't be right... Could he?

As soon as that doubt entered her head it quickly left as soon as she realized that if she had killed Tucker when she was meant to then she wouldn't be here right now, in the same room as a chimera that used to be a child. _The A.O.S isn't about a cure, it's about prevention!_ She thought to herself as she replayed the Sargent's words inside herself.

However although she knew that she was right, her body still loosened a bit. The fight within her seeped out of her body and she slouched a bit. Ed thought this meant that she had listened to him but in reality, she thought it was just because it was pointless at this point. The military could handle this one, Avery was tired.

She sighed, it was long and heavy. She didn't want to talk right now so she just nodded at Ed and he understood what she meant and let go of her, trusting that she wouldn't try and attack again. She returned the sheath back inside her big, long boots and that's when Ed noticed; _What is she wearing?_ It looked like a uniform of sorts but a bit rough around the edges. Worn in leather pants to match her leather coat that was closed and tightened around the middle with a fasten, a long, big hood hung from that back of her collar. And lines going across each sleeve, which Ed was completely unaware that those lines were what clasped her weapons to the inside of her jacket.

Her outfit attire was just a passing thought though as he saw the chimera, Nina, stumble towards the pair of them. 'We... go play...Now?'

Al looked down, ' I'm sorry... Even with all our power, we can't do anything to change you back. I'm sorry... I'm sorry!'

'I made it just in time... I get to remain a State Alchemist. I passed! ' Tucker declared, his voice relieved despite his current state. He was unbelievable, he was actually insane Avery thought.

Ed glared at him from the side, she could see that his body was still shaking. 'Like hell, you're staying a State Alchemist. Like hell.' Was all he said.

Avery felt something nudging at her leg and felt her stomach when she looked down to see that it was Nina, nudging her nose into Avery's leg. Ed and Al watched too, both horrified. 'Can we... Play now? Big Sis.. Promised... Promised to play big Sis.'

Avery's mouth went completely dry as she was unable to move an inch as her gaze just locked on Nina. And the only sound that could leave Ed's mouth was an utterly helpless scream.

'If there is ever an example of the devil's work this would be it.' Hawkeye commented whilst her and Mustang walked down the steps outside on the State Alchemists headquarters. Avery trailed behind the pair of them, following Mustang as he ordered. He took one look at her when he arrived at Tucker's house and demanded that they talk later.

Mustang continued to walk with hands behind his back, completely calm externally whereas Ed and all were sat further down the steps. Ed's head in his arms, not caring about the rain pelting down on him. 'The Devil, huh? A State Alchemist must be willing to act, able to take another's life when ordered to without question. In some ways, Mr. Tucker's actions and our own may not be all that far apart when it comes to interfering with other people's lives.' Avery was surprised at his honesty, especially towards state Alchemists. She wondered if he thought the same about her, although she was fairly certain she did. 'We choose our own path, knowing full well what we're doing. That's the way it is...right, Fullmetal? You will more than likely come across cases like this again in the future, and you may have to get your own hands dirty as well. Are you going to shut down like this every time?'

She shuddered at the familiarity of Mustang's words, she had heard similar things in the past herself- in a certain sense she almost related to Edward right now, _almost._

'We may be called dogs of the military... We may even be cursed as devils. It doesn't matter. Al and I are still going to get our bodies back.' Avery paused, just one step below Edward. What did he mean to get their bodies back? Just what exactly did they do and why did it send a shiver down Avery's spine? 'We know the truth. We know we're not devils. We know we're not gods! We're human. We're only human!' He yelled the last part in desperation standing up straight and looking at the sky helplessly. Mustang and Hawkeye continued to walk on but Avery was glued to the spot, although her eyes remained ahead she couldn't help but listen to what he was saying.

'We can't even do anything to save one innocent little girl. So what good are we then?'

Avery's chest tightened at even the mention of Nina, she couldn't help but look down at her feet, watching the rain splash against the pavement in almost a rhythmic motion. She knew something that those brothers didn't know. They didn't get the chance to save her but Avery did. Avery had the opportunity right in front of her and because she didn't take it Nina was... She...

Sighing deeply, she took another step.

'So care to tell me why you were really at Shou Tucker's house?' Mustang asked Avery who currently stood in front of his desk, arms behind her back and eyes straight on him. The color in her eyes matched the fire inside them although Mustang could also see something else in there. He couldn't quite figure out what, however. Anger? Pain?

Avery answered honestly, no longer caring about the consequences anymore. 'Sargent Caine sent me on a mission to go to Shou Tucker's and kill him.'

Mustang's eyes hardened even more so, 'Why were none of us made aware of this mission Avery?' If she had been sent on a mission Chris would've informed Roy straight away, part of their agreement was for the Military's side to be informed of all business that the A.O.S went on, especially Avery. This was very much unlike

'It was not on the records so I don't think anyone other than Sargent Caine was aware of what I was sent to do. Not even Chrismtas.' Avery explained, squashing any doubt that started to filter Roy's head about his aunt.

'And why were you sent to kill Shou, Avery?'

Avery's eyebrows furrowed in distress as she spoke, her eyes moving away from Mustang's and onto the floor. 'I... I don't know exactly. He never specified he just told me to do so, and then when I first arrived there I couldn't understand why I had to either. I let myself get distracted rather than trusting his judgment to the point that...' Avery hesitated to speak because she knew once she said it out loud all would be confirmed. She took a deep breath and then looked back and Mustang. 'To the point that even when I did have my doubts about Tucker and decided to carry out what I was sent to do... I-' _You can do this, you have to do this! '_ I was too late! I got there and I was too late!' Avery was practically yelling at this point. 'I don't know how Sargent knew but he did and rather than just listening to his orders I doubted him and got distracted! Now Nina is... Sh- she's gone and it's _because of me_!' The last three words came out as a scream, making Roy jump in surprise slightly when he came to realize something.

It wasn't pain or sorrow, or even anger that was hidden behind her eyes... It was guilt. He slammed his fist on the table causing Avery to silence up. Staring at Roy in bewilderment. 'That is enough! Looking back and thinking about how things could've been done differently isn't going to make a difference now. Your hesitation showed your humanity- be grateful you even have that inside you left.' He grimaced as he thought about most A.O.S members that he had come across, just merely the military weapons formed in a human vessel, void of any signs of empathy or anything. Just completely brainwashed. Although she would never admit it he knew this is why Chris, or Madame Christmas as everyone else called her, keeps Avery and the other two with her as well as her 'bar'. They were still human. 'All you can do from this point onwards is look forward and prevent things like this from happening again. You learn from each mistake, okay?'

He knew that Avery didn't really believe him but he also knew firsthand when determined enough she could do almost anything she wanted, he saw that same determination as she nodded at him in agreement.

'Okay.'

 **Hello ! Long time no see, although I don't actually know if anyone is reading this story yet but hello anyway. I haven't updated in nearly a year oops, I had bad writers block and then like etc etc but i'm back now ! I really do hope you enjoy and please leave a comment to let me know what you think. I'm happy to recieve any kind of contructive criticism if you got any or even any praise im happy! It just motivates me to right more. Anywayyy**

 **Thank you !**


	6. Chapter 6

'Caine! What were you thinking of sending Avery on an unauthorised mission?!' Madame Christmas demanded as she slammed her fist down at the table. Roy Mustang sat beside her trying to hide any evidence of the enjoyment he was getting out of witnessing Sargent Caine being told off by his superior. Roy knew better than anyone what it was like to be on the opposite of his aunties wrath and it wasn't pretty.

'I was only doing what had to be done and-'

'Then you come to me first!' She shouted causing a slight smirk to escape from Roy's lips, Sargent Caine caught glimpse of it and shot daggers over to him.

'I tried to approach HQ about Tucker but no one would listen to me!' He argued back causing Madame to sigh deeply and bring her fingertips over to her temples as a measure to calm herself down.

'That's not surprising,' Roy commented, his face returning to its serious demeanor, 'Although it was known that he was struggling with his research, to use his wife... His own daughter as a part of his experiments... That's something no one would have expected let alone listen to without any evidence to back up your claims. It's completely inhuman.' Roy paused for a moment and tapped his fingers against the table, there was just one more thing that he wanted to know. 'How did you know about Shou Tucker though? What you made suspect him in the first place?'

Caine faltered for a slight moment, hesitant to answer but neither noticed. 'Emily... Shou Tucker's wife, I knew her father, very well. We fought together in the Ishvallen War, we were comrades. Her mother died when she was very young so her father was all he had left, they used to be very close... Until one day she completely vanished and Tucker cut off all contact with him and Nina. He just knew his daughter wouldn't disappear like that, he suspected something was up but no one believed him. Neither did I... Until he took his own life..' Roy tensed, trying to restrain the frustration bubbling up inside of him. Once again their government had failed its citizens. 'Before he did kill himself however he made one last request to me, he asked me to bring his daughter justice.'

'I still don't understand how you knew about his wife, or what was going to happen to Nina though?' Roy queried further, Madame sat beside him in silence as she listened along.

'I've been investigating him since, I've had help with private detectives and a few secret informers- this discovery is very recent though, I sent Avery out almost as soon as I realized. I knew inspection day was coming but I didn't actually think that he would repeat the same events with his own daughter.'

'What were your plans for Avery then when it would've appeared to everyone else that she had killed an innocent father?' Madame asked, her face was stern but no one could read the thought process going through her head.

'But he wasn't innocent!'

'That is beside the point, Sargent Caine! You are missing the point and as Superior Officer to the A.O.S I am shocked. The A.O.S is not to be known about in the public eye, very few military members are aware of it themselves. You not only risked uncovering the A.O.S but you also put every member as well as my nephew and his officers at risk!' She bellowed, Roy inwardly cringed- she had a strong point going until she brought personal matters involved. 'You know already the number of enemies they have built up!'

Sargent Caine bowed his head respectfully, 'I understand but can I just make one comment?' He looked up at Madame to see her stare at him sternly for a few moments before nodding.

'Just one.'

'Avery didn't kill Tucker- regardless of thinking it was a mission she was there for 2 days and didn't harm him. She faltered.' To the untrained eye, Sargent Caine's facial expression was almost unreadable but Roy could tell that Caine was suggesting something, he was doubting Avery's abilities.

Madame sighed, hearing enough information, for now, she called an end to the meeting. 'I will talk to again at a later date Caine but for now, I've heard enough. Our main concern right now is catching the man that did actually kill Shou Tucker and Nina.'

* * *

Her body restlessly turned in her bed as she struggled to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she would get vivid images of what had happened to Nina, they were clawing at her mind, it was like her brain was on a vicious cycle that wouldn't stop. Each time she blinked her stomach would drop even lower and lower- this kind of ache was an unfamiliar kind. It was like regret, but even heavier. _If she hadn't have hesitated in her mission then Nina would still be okay._ She made an attempt to close her eyes once more. She forced her body to remain still as she breathed slowly in and then out again until it became a rhythmic pattern.

 _'Big sis!' Nina cried as she ran towards Avery excitedly, waving her arms as she grew closer and closer to Avery. Avery turned over and looked at her, 'you promised we could play! Let's play!' Avery smiled slightly as a sense of relief washed over her._

 _'I know I promised but I don't know if I can today... How about tomorrow?' She crouched down to Nina's length and offered her hand out to the girl._

 _Avery jumped a bit as Nina's voiced changed, lowering in pitch and straining, 'but... Big sis... Promise to play.' Her eyes widened as she looked back at the former shell of Nina as it formed and shaped into a chimera right before her eyes. Avery gasped and fell backward, horror rushing through her body all at once and attacking like a tsunami wave. The creature inched closer and closer to Avery, she wanted to scream, to get up and run away but her body froze in shock._

 _It kept talking, repeating the same words over and over again. 'Big... Sis.'_

* * *

Avery jolted up from her bed violently, panting for breath as her sweat-stained clothes clung to her body. She could feel her heart thudding against her chest. It had been so long since she had woken up from a night terror like this, except this time she actually remembered what the dream was- although she wished she didn't. She looked out the window to see it was still dark outside and she snapped. Growling she grabbed the closest thing besides her and flung it across the room at full velocity. She could hear it smashing against the wall and concluded that it was her bedside lamp recognizing the sound. She knew attempting to sleep was going to be an impossible feat at this point, she didn't even know the time.

She exhaled deeply and got out of bed and walked straight towards her door, already knowing instinctively where she was heading. She heard the door click as she closed it behind her and walked to the room next door.

Even though she didn't bother knocking she was surprised to see Oliver still awake in his room as he hunched over his desk. He was scratching his head intently underneath the dim lamp. Her eyes followed where his were and realized he was reading, her eyebrows furrowed.

'Damn it! Damn it! There's literally nothing here!' He yelled to himself as he slammed his fist down on the desk not even taken notice of Avery's presence.

'What are you doing?' She asked as she walked over to him.

'This stupid Philosopher's Stone is driving me nuts!' He screeched still not acknowledging her. 'I can't find a single thing on it!' Avery panicked slightly at the pitch of his voiced and smothered her hands over his mouth.

'Hey! you idiot! Keep it down! I told you this was a secret.' She growled, glaring at him. He matched her glare and tried to struggle out of her grasp, he was struggling to breathe. He pushed her hand off of his, regardless of how skilled she was he could just as easily match her in strength.

'I don't understand...'

'What don't you understand?'

'How there cannot be a single thing about it in any of these books, I have scowered every single page to nearly every Alchemy based book I could get my hands on and nothing. It doesn't make sense.' He frowned and glanced over at the pile of books forming beside his bed. 'Avery... Are you sure it's re-'

Avery cut him off before he even had a chance to finish his sentence, 'yes I know it's real! I wouldn't have come to you with something I wasn't certain about... You must've heard something?!' Oliver tensed slightly and avoided her gaze. She caught it immediately.

'It's nothing that I've read in any of the books... A long time ago... Before I even met you, there was this one mission I went on and I remember this guy... He was drunk and didn't say much but-' Oliver faltered again and Avery rolled her eyes in irritation at his hesitance. She snapped her fingers in front of him.

'What did he say?' She asked.

'All I know is that _if_ it is real, that it amplifies alchemy or something similar to that- that's pretty much all I know. But for something that significant to alchemy not to be mentioned in any of these books is really bizarre.' Oliver explained. None of this was making sense to Avery, even less so than Oliver. What on earth was it about this stone that she was connected to? She had nothing to do with Alchemy, she could barely even stand it so why did she feel so drawn to it? It was driving her head crazy, she couldn't ignore it even if she wanted to. Ever since she heard those boys talk about the Philosophers Stone it was like something awakened inside of her, for the first time she's ever remembered. Even in the past few days, it was still there at the back of her mind slowly dragging itself to the forefront of her head.

'Avery, why are you so interested in the stone? I don't get it.'

She looked to the ground as she tensed her fists in frustration, 'I can't tell you.' _She couldn't tell him because she didn't know._

Oliver looked at her for a long minute, considering everything at hand. She could tell just by his silence, the heaviness of it. 'Could you tell me? If I helped you?' Avery weighed out her options for a minute. If he did help her and she got to figure out what all of this meant then technically yeah, she could tell him. But only if she knew herself.

She looks at him. 'Yes.'

Oliver nodded, 'Okay.'

'Okay?'

'Okay.' He nodded once more, 'I will agree to continue helping you- or try to anyway. I don't actually know how I can with no new resources for information.' _That was it!_ Something suddenly clicked inside of Avery's head.

'That's it!' She exclaimed once more but out loud this time. Oliver looked at her in confusion.

'What's it?'

'Those boys!' Oliver started to grumble in annoyance, his patience vastly wearing thin at Avery's ambiguity. Avery caught on quickly and continued to explain what she meant. 'The Elric brothers! The first time I met them was in one of the classified library's at HQ, they were looking into the Philosophers Stone too!' She failed to mention that was also her first time ever hearing about it too but that would open up way too many questions that she just couldn't answer. 'I'm also certain that was their reason for being at Shou Tucker's house too.'

Realization dawned onto Oliver as to what Avery was getting at here, 'That library you mentioned... Can you get access to it?'

Avery nodded, 'I can try.' And those boys... She was going to have to get information from them, but how? They came as a package but one of them loathed her. 'As for finding out what the Elric's know... I need to get closer to them.' She confirmed. Although it sounded more like she was confirming it to herself rather than Oliver.

He doubted if Avery even really knew what it meant to 'get closer' to someone, she couldn't approach the Elric brothers like any of her last missions, they weren't just target's to just take out and discard of. This meant that she was going to have to form and grow a relationship with these boys, create an emotional connection and gain their trust, even if it was all fake. He's known Avery long enough to know what she was capable of, and emotional intelligence wasn't it. He knew Avery was thinking this as well.

Oliver scoffed and then started snickering, which turned into full-blown laughing. 'What?!' Avery growled at him.

'Scrap getting close enough to them to gain information, we need to just figure out how to get them to even like you!' Oliver howled which only added fuel to Avery's fire.

'Hey! I'm perfectly likeable!' Avery retorted back in denial.

'Says who?' He teased, poking at her cheeks. Avery froze to the spot, trying to formulate a response but the longer she stayed quiet the angrier she got. She gnawed on the inside of her cheek to relieve some of the frustration but the metallic on her tongue wasn't contributing anything to calming her down.

'Shut up.' She grumbled, trying to bite back any form of remark that would make him back out after only just agreeing to help.

Oliver leaned back into his chair and gazed out the window, 'You know what? For some reason I feel as if this isn't going to be easy.' Avery would have fought back if she hadn't of caught the serious look in his face. It didn't seem like he was saying it to tease her, it sounded more like he was commenting to himself.

She didn't respond.

Although she didn't want to admit it, she had that same feeling in the pit of her stomach.


End file.
